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AGRICULTURAL INSTRUCTION IN THE 

PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOLS OF 

THE UNITED STATES 



BY 



CLARENCE HALL ROBISON, Ph.D. 

SOMETIME FELLOW IN EDUCATION, TEACHERS COLLEGE 
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 



TEACHERS COLLEGE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 
CONTRIBUTIONS TO EDUCATION, NO. 39 



PUBLISHED BY 

Wtut^itB OInUpgp, dnlttmbia Iniurraitg 

NEW YORK CITY 

1911 



H\i 






Copyright, 1911, by Clarence Hall Robison 



!g;C!.A2S0UGS 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

The present study would have been impossible but for the 
hearty cooperation of a large number of persons, as state super- 
intendents, high-school inspectors, officers of administration or 
instruction in the state universities and agricultural colleges, and 
officers and teachers in the different schools studied. For the 
mass of detailed information used in Chapters II, III, IV, part 
of V, and VII, I am particularly indebted to the superintendents, 
principals, and teachers in the schools listed. (See footnote, i.) 
The compilation of the list itself was rather difficult in the 
early stages, since agricultural instruction was so new in 1907 
and because few states had at that time undertaken to collect 
information regarding the work. 

Especially am I indebted to Mr. D. J. Crosby, Specialist in 
Agricultural Education of the United States Department of Agri- 
culture, for the free use of the materials and facilities at the 
command of the office of Experiment Stations. 

Much appreciated assistance in reading the manuscript and 
in checking up the tabulations has been rendered both by Mr. 
Crosby and by Mr. F. W. Howe, then Assistant in Agricultural 
Education in the Office of Experiment Stations, and now Su- 
pervisor of Agricultural Education for the New York State 
Education Department. 

The present investigation has been carried on under the 
auspices of the department of secondary education. Teachers 
College, Columbia University. I owe a great debt to Pro- 
fessor Julius Sachs, head of the department, and to Dr. David 
S. Snedden, now commissioner of education for Massachusetts, 
for their helpful direction and kind suggestions at all stages of 
the work. 

C. H. R. 



CONTENTS 

Page 

INTRODUCTION ^ 

CHAPTER I 
Agricultural Education 

A brief historical sketch _• 4 

Present agencies of agricuhural education 

CHAPTER II 

The Public High School 

Importance of agricultural instruction in the high school I3 

Types of secondary schools teaching agriculture H 

Legislation : • • • V" i' \ oo 

Statistics of schools teaching agriculture as a separate study 22 

Statistics of schools teaching agriculture incidentally. 3o 

CHAPTER III 

Some Typical High Schools Teaching Agriculture 

High schools teaching agriculture one year or less .'..•• 42 

Grove City High School, Ohio 43 

New Holland High School, Ohio 45 

West Milton High School, Ohio 47 

South Lyon High School, Mich 4» 

Wayne Township High School, Ohio 5° 

Beaver Creek Township High School, Ohio 52 

Riley Township High School, Ohio 53 

St. Louis High School, Mich 55 

Sac City High School, Iowa • 5° 

High schools teaching agriculture in three or four years do 

Petersham High School, Mass ^° 

John Swaney School, McNabb, 111 04 

Guthrie County High School, Iowa 7i 

Waterf ord Township High School, Pa 75 

High schools teaching agriculture only incidentally 03 

Odell High School, 111 ^^ 

CHAPTER IV 

Administration, Equipment and Methods 

Time given to instruction _. • ■ • • ; °5 

Relation of agriculture to the curriculum and to the other sciences 

in the curriculum ri 

The teaching force ^ 

Experimentation and field work ^3 

Text and reference books 99 



vi Contents 

CHAPTER V 

Preparation and Salaries of Teachers of Agriculture in the 

High Schools 

Page 

Preparation and practical experience of the teachers . 102 

Salaries paid the teachers of agriculture, trained and untrained. ... 104 
The agricultural college as a source of supply, with statistics on 

salaries commanded by recent graduates 10^ 

Provision for the higher training of teachers of agriculture m 

Courses for teachers given during the regular college year... iii 

Summer school courses ^^-^ 

The summer conference ; '^ ^4 

The professorship of agricultural education II5 

CHAPTER VI 
Special Secondary Schools of Agriculture 

Types of special schools and state aid 1^7 

Support and control , ^^9 

Organization, curriculum, and equipment 127 

The Alabama Congressional District Schools 12b 

The Georgia Congressional District Schools 131 

The Oklahoma District Schools rAT--, ^^ 

The Wisconsin and Michigan County Agricultural Schools I39 

Faculties of the special agricultural schools 141 

CHAPTER VH 
Problems of Agricultural Instruction in the Secondary School 

Agriculture and the existing school system I43 

The effect of estabUshing special schools I45 

The attitude of colleges and universities i5i 

Difficulties of the curriculum _. . I5« 

Relation of agriculture as a branch of the high-school curric- 
ulum to the sciences already present • ■ • i5o 

Relation of the agriculture taught in the high school to that 

taught in the elementary schools 107 

Difficulties of instruction ^"9 

The time problem ^"o 

The equipment problem ^7i 

The teacher problem ^72 

The text-book problem ^72 

The methods problem ^73 

The attitude of students and patrons 170 

Help that may be given the schools loi 

Conclusions and summary ^°^ 

APPENDIX A 
Legislation pertaining to agricultural instruction in public high 
schools ^ ^ 

APPENDIX B 

List of references on agricultural education 191 

Topical list of references 200 

INDEX 2°^ 



TABLES 

Page 
Table i. High schools and academies offering instruction in 

agriculture for two or more years 24 

2. Secondary schools classified as agricultural high schools, 

for the year 1908-9 _. . . 25 

3. Special schools classified according to the geographical 

unit served _ _ 25 

4. Public high schools with courses in agriculture 27 

5. Agriculture taught as a separate study 28 

6. Agriculture taught incidentally 29 

7. Schools reporting more or less fully 29 

8. Data from 151 comparable schools furnishing complete 

information 31 

9. Comparative data for 151 schools 34 

ID. Ratios of enrollment per 10,000 of population 35 

11. Ratio of enrollment in agriculture to total enrollment. 36 

12. Ratio of students from farm homes to total enrollment. 37 

13. Enrollment of high schools reporting 38 

14. Ratio of students from farm homes to total enrollment 

(in schools teaching agriculture incidentally) 38 

15. Science work reported. (Same schools as in Table 14). 39 

16. Number of sciences reported. (Same schools as in 

Table 14) : . 39 

17. Time given to each science. (Same schools as in 

Table 14) 40 

18. Distribution of schools according to the number of 

weeks given to agriculture 86 

19. Distribution of schools according to the number of 

minutes per week given to agriculture 87 

20. Distribution of schools according to the total number 

of minutes per annum given to agriculture 88 

21. Distribution of schools according to the year in which 

agriculture is given 89 

22. Distribution of schools according to the sciences pre- 

ceding agriculture 91 

23. Distribution of schools according to the amount of 

science preceding agriculture 92 

24. Distribution of schools with first-year agriculture pre- 

ceded by another science 92 

25. Official position of the instructor in agriculture 93 

26. Distribution of teachers according to the number of 

classes taught in addition to agriculture 93 

27. Distribution of teachers according to the number of 

hours on duty in school 94 

28. Total number of classes assigned to teacher of agri- 

culture and time spent daily in agriculture 94 

29. Purposes to which available funds are devoted 96 

30. Distribution of schools according to amounts of loans, 

gifts, and expenditures for all agricultural purposes. 97 

vii 



Vlll 



Tables 



Page 
Table 31. Amount of experimentation work 98 

32. Who performed the experiments 98 

33. Schools reporting garden work 98 

34. Text-books reported as used 100 

35. Books reported as references five times or more loi 

36. Preparation of 182 high-school teachers of agriculture. 102 

37. Preparation of 120 teachers in Missouri, Nebraska, and 

Ohio 103 

38. Salaries of no teachers of agriculture in Missouri, 

Nebraska, and Ohio 104 

39. Official position and sex of the teachers of agriculture 

in Missouri, Nebraska, and Ohio 106 

40. Salaries of teachers paid more because of ability to 

teach agriculture in the high school 107 

41. Salaries of agriculturists in public high schools and 

other public secondary schools 108 

42. Distribution of salaries of graduates from agricultural 

colleges in 1907, 1908, and 1909 109 

43. Time given to agriculture in proportion to other school 

work (in Alabama special agricultural schools).... 128 

44. Equipment and faculties of the Congressional District 

Schools of Alabama 130 

45. Time given to agriculture in proportion to other school 

work (in Georgia special agricultural schools) 132 

46. Data on the property and incomes of the Georgia Con- 

gressional District Schools 135 

47. Data on the property and incomes of the Oklahoma 

District Schools 136 

48. Time given to agriculture in proportion to other school 

work (in the Dunn County, Wis., school) 140 

49. Faculties of the special agricultural schools for coun- 

ties and larger districts 142 

50. Data on students in agricultural schools 151 

51. Difficulties experienced in teaching agriculture 169 

52. The attitude of pupils and patrons toward agriculture. 176 

53. Principal industries of the communities supporting agri- 

cultural courses 179 

54. Topics in agriculture most difficult to teach 180 



AGRICULTURAL INSTRUCTION IN THE 
PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOLS 

INTRODUCTION 

The secondary school/ especially the public high school, owes 
a duty to the large majority of its students who do not go to 
college. Its problems, therefore, must be studied as problems 
concerned with the future of its students in the community. 
Just as the city high school is seeking to an increasing extent 
to adjust itself to present industrial conditions, so is there a 
rapidly growing movement on the part of the rural and village 
high schools to bring their work into intimate connection and 
close sympathy with the life and interests of their environment. 

An examination of some of the features of this movement 
at its present stage is the main purpose of this study. It aims 
to furnish data much needed for that discussion which has had 
to depend too largely upon individual experience for its basis. 
Too often has personal enthusiasm been compelled to make up 
for the deficiency of facts. Besides giving as accurate a picture 
as possible of the present agricultural work in the high schools, 
an attempt has been made to determine the relation of this 
work to the school organization, to important local industries, 
and to the distribution of the rural population. An inquiry 
has been made into the present preparation of the teachers in 
charge of the work and the opportunities offered them to 
become better equipped to carry it on. An investigation has 
also been carried on regarding the available supply of men 
trained along agricultural lines, and the conditions, professional 
and financial, tending to limit the supply that might otherwise 



1 The schools dealt with in this investigation are all listed in the pan^- 
phlet. Institutions giving instruction in agriculture, Oflfice of Exper- 
ment Stations, October 17, 1908, p. 10. This study deals with prac- 
tically all of the high schools listed on pages 3-8 of the pamphlet. 

I 



2 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

be available. From time to time some of the more important 
inferences are pointed out, while in the last chapter a con- 
sideration is given to some of the more pressing problems. 

Among these problems may be mentioned the following : The 
need of more clearly defined ideas of educational principles 
involved and the lack of a definite method of teaching the sub- 
ject; the relation of agriculture as a branch of the curriculum 
to the sciences already included in it ; the question of duplication 
between the work of the high school and of the elementary 
grades ; the attitude of the state universities outside the colleges 
of agriculture ; the bearing on agricultural teaching of the idea 
of " differentiating school work at the age of twelve " ; and 
the social implications involved in the special or technical agri- 
cultural high school for large political units. Special secondary 
schools of agriculture involve an expenditure of large sums of 
money and the selection of a number of specially trained teach- 
ers ; consequently they are planned, and will be, for some time 
to come, after careful consultation with the scientific and agri- 
cultural experts of the United States Department of Agriculture, 
the state agricultural colleges, and the state department of public 
instruction. But this expert advice has not been taken advantage 
of to the same extent at least by the general, or non-specialized 
public high schools of the small cities and rural communities. 
Many of these schools have come to light in the present investi- 
gation which were unknown to some of the public agencies 
just mentioned and sometimes to all of them. The high schools 
of this latter type introduce agricultural instruction because 
they have faith in it, but they are hampered by lack of facili- 
ties, time, and that experience or training on the part of the 
teacher necessary to enable him to use the means at hand. 

It is in the hope that this study may serve in some measure 
as a clearing house of ideas on these points that it is largely 
devoted to an inquiry into the present status of agricultural 
instruction in this type of schools. Some studies of other types 
of schools are introduced for the help they may contribute to 
an intelligent discussion of the non-urban high-school problem, 
and are not intended to be exhaustive presentations of the work. 
of those institutions. 



Introduction 3 

The source material has been, first, direct data on the high 
schools themselves : ( i ) Questionaire replies from superinten- 
dents, principals, and special teachers of agriculture; (2) cata- 
logues, class material, and other records furnished by these 
schools; (3) personal visits to selected schools scattered from 
the Atlantic Coast to the Missouri River; and (4) some little 
material furnished by the state reports. Second, contributory 
data: (i) Documentary data and personal visits to summer 
schools attempting to help the high-school teachers; (2) returns 
from officers of administration and graduates of agricultural 
colleges, bearing on the salary question; (3) data from special 
agricultural schools, bearing on certain phases of the general 
question; and (4) special reports of the United States Depart- 
ment of Agriculture, of the Bureau of Education, of state boards 
of agriculture, of the National Education Association, various 
addresses, and miscellaneous sources. 

So far as possible, the replies have been reduced to similar 
terms so as to make comparable as large a number of schools 
as possible. But owing to omissions of certain items in the 
replies, the number of such comparable cases is considerably 
smaller than the number even of the fuller replies, ranging from 
fifty per cent to ninety per cent, according to the items com- 
pared. It has been possible to supply estimates of population, 
enrollment, etc., in no small degree from the state reports of 
Nebraska and Ohio, which states include over one-half of the 
schools reporting. 



CHAPTER I 

AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 

The Committee on Industrial Education in Schools for Rural 
Communities^ expresses the opinion that " industrial education 
has for its purpose the acquiring of a body of usable knowledge 
of greater or lesser extent relating to industrial conditions, 
processes, and organization, and to the administration of affairs 
incident to the environment of the individual being educated, 
involving the gaining of some skill in the use of such knowledge, 
and the securing of mental, aesthetic, and ethical training through 
the acquisition and use of the knowledge indicated." The mem- 
bers of the committee were L. D. Harvey, chairman, L. H. 
Bailey, Alfred Bayliss, W. T. Carrington, and W. M. Hays. 
To make the above statement apply exclusively to agricultural 
education it is only necessary to qualify appropriately the word 
environment. In a narrow and more formal way, agricultural 
education might be regarded as the mastery of the principles 
underlying farm practice. Agricultural training, on the other 
hand, is the gaining of considerable skill in carrying on farm 
operations. It may be and usually is obtained by imitation or 
by following rules derived the user knows not how. A proper 
mastery of principles, however, involves more or less participa- 
tion in the operations, used solely as laboratory exercises, whether 
carried on indoors or out. 

A Brief Historical Sketch 

One of the earliest proposals in this country to regard agri- 
culture as a fit subject for higher education is found in a pros- 
pectus issued by William Smith, in 1751, designed as a model 



'Report of the committee in the National Education Association, 
Journal of proceedings and addresses, July, 1905, p. 10. 

4 



Agricultural Education 5 

for colleges. =^ This plan, providing for the chemistry of agri- 
culture, was carried out more or less fully at Philadelphia 
Academy (University of Pennsylvania). We find Husbandry 
and Commerce mentioned in the original prospectus of King's 
College (Columbia University), dated May 31, 1754, and Agri- 
culture and Merchandize in the laws and orders adopted by the 
governors, June 3, 1755.^ The chair of botany and agriculture 
in 1792 was held by Samuel Latham Mitchell, M. D. In 1794, 
in describing a summer course in botany, he says " An attempt 
is made by the professor, who is a practical farmer, to elucidate 
and explain the economy of plants, their affinity to animals, and 
the organization, excitability, stimuli, life diseases, and death 
of both classes of beings. The physiology of plants, . 
is therefore particularly enlarged upon, as connected with gar- 
dening and farming."* 

One of the best instances of the actual uses of agriculture 
and other industrial work in an educational way for pupils of 
elementary and secondary school age is furnished by the schools 
established at New Harmony, Ind., in 1825, by William Maclure,*^ 
in connection with his socialistic experiment known as the New 
Harmony Movement. Maclure placed the schools in charge of 
Joseph Neef, whom he had brought to Philadelphia in 1806 
to introduce Pestalozzi's method of teaching. He provided ample 
dormitories, books, museums, shops, experimental plats, and 
other facilities. The experiment was short-lived, suffering from 
the spirit of religious intolerance on all sides, while the location 
so far from the older centers of intellectual life was largely 
responsible for the slight impression the schools made on edu- 
cational practice. 

A pioneer movement in agricultural education and one that 
lasted much longer than many others, though not much noticed 



* William Smith, Discourses on Public Affairs, second edition, Lon- 
don, 1762. 

' Van Amringe in Universities and their Sons, edited by Joshua L. 
Chamberlain, pp. 583 and 598. 

■• Mitchell, The Present State of Learning in the College of New York. 
New York, 1794. 

'Will S. Monroe, Pestalozzian Movement in the United States. 



6 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

in the literature of agricultural education, was the Oneida Manual 
Labor Institute, conducted by George Washington Gale from 
1827 to 1834, and including instruction in carpentry and agri- 
culture. This extended effort followed a few years' experience 
with a number of boys who were taken on to a farm near Whites- 
boro, Oneida County, N. Y., to which he had retired from the 
ministry on account of ill health. He later established Knox 
College, at Galesburg, 111. 

A Manual Labor Academy was conducted from 1830 to 1832 
at Germantown, Pa., by George Junkin, who was later the first 
president of Lafayette College. 

Sporadic attempts, more or less futile, were made to introduce 
regular instruction in agriculture as a part of the school cur- 
riculum early in the last century, as at Dummer Academy, New- 
berry, Mass., 1824; Derby, Conn., 1824; Teachers' Seminary, 
Andover, Mass., 1838; The Peoples' College, Montour Falls, 
New York, 1853; Westfield (Mass.) Academy, 1856; and Powers 
Institute, Bernardston, Mass., 1857. The opening of Bussey In- 
stitute, founded by a bequest made in 1842, was delayed by 
Harvard College until 1870. That commendable philanthropy, 
the Farm School, Thompson's Island, Boston, now ninety-five 
years old, began instructions in agriculture in 1833, and has 
since continued it. Work of recognized scientific merit was 
inaugurated at the Sheffield Scientific School, Yale, in 1848, by 
the establishment of a chair of agricultural chemistry and 
vegetable and animal physiology. 

Most of the present large list of agricultural and mechanical 
colleges were founded as a result of the famous Morrill Act 
of 1862. Of the few already in existence before this date, the 
Michigan Agricultural College, opened to students in 1857, is 
the oldest. The Morrill Act gave to each state 30,000 acres 
of land for each member of Congress for the establishment and 
maintenance of such schools. From this have resulted endow- 
ment funds amounting to $12,000,000, with $8,000,000 worth 
of land not yet sold. Later acts of Congress, the Hatch Act 



Agricultural Education 7 

effective in 1887; Morrill Act, 1890; Adams Act, 1906; and 
Nelson Act, 1907, have appropriated sums of regularly increas- 
ing amounts which in 1912 aggregate $80,000 annually for the 
agricultural colleges and experiment stations of each state. 

By June 30, 1909, the end of the fiscal year, there had been 
paid to the land-grant colleges by the Federal Government an 
approximate total of $23,000,000. 

Although the colleges for several years derived their prin- 
cipal support from the income of the grants of land, the Morrill 
and later acts have proved such a spur to the states that a large 
number appropriate sums each year amounting to many times 
the aid received from the federal treasury. 

This is strikingly shown by the fact that the total federal aid 
given the land-grant colleges for all purposes for the fiscal 
year ending June 30, 1909, amounted to $2,641,006.63 while the 
total income from state appropriations amounted to $10,172,- 
559.48, making a grand total of $12,813,566.11." 

An agricultural college exists in every state and territory 
except Alaska either separately,^ in connection with the state 
university,* or as a part of a semi-public institution.® 

The value of all property of the land-grant colleges in June 
30, 1909, was $111,882,686.96, including permanent funds 
amounting to $34,285,131.71, and their total income was $18,- 
082,853.55. Out of 28,686 white collegiate students, 7,038 were 
in agricultural courses of all kinds or home economics, while 
10,409 were in corresponding " short courses."^" The enroll- 
ment in the engineering courses increased 14 per cent from 



'Office of Experiment Stations Report, 1909. 

^Alabama, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, 
Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, Nevada, 
New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Penn- 
sylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, 
Virginia, Washington — 26. 

'Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, 
Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, 
Tennessee, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, — 18. 

•Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Vermont, — 5. 

"Office of Experiment Stations Report, 1908, p. 192. Does not in- 
clude the few colored students. 



8 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

1906 to 1907, while that of the agricultural courses increased 
25 per cent." Using comparable data in the report of the 
Commissioner of Education for 1908, the increase in the enroll- 
ment in the engineering and purely agricultural courses is 10 
per cent and 18 per cent respectively.^^ 

In the following year we find a decrease in the gain in both 
courses, with the disparity growing greater. The increase in 
the enrollment in the agricultural courses was 14 per cent, 
while the enrollment in engineering courses was practically at 
a standstill. ^^ 

The primary purpose and function of the experiment station 
is research, invesigating both general and local problems. These 
stations are attached to the state agricultural colleges except in 
Ohio and Georgia, where they are separate and in different 
localities. Separate stations also exist in many states for the 
study of special problems, and there are stations in Alaska, 
Hawaii, Porto Rico and Guam. When established as depart- 
ments of the colleges, part of the time of the staff is available 
for instruction. 

The disbursements from the United States Treasury to the 
states and territories for agricultural experiment stations under 
the so-called Hatch and Adams acts of 1887 and 1906 amounted 
for the year ending June 30, 1909, to $1,248,000.00.^* 

Present Agencies of Agricultural Education 
The earliest organized form of agricultural education is 
to be found in the farmers' clubs and societies started in the 
older states at a very early day, and later in the arrangements 
now generally known as farmers' institutes, by which speakers 
were provided through a central authority, either for these local 
societies, or for general public meetings. We find the Pennsyl- 
vania Society for Promoting Agriculture as early as 1785. 

" Report of the United States Commissioner of Education, 1907, p. 871. 

"Ibid., 1908, vol. 2, p. 738. 

"Ibid., 1909, vol. 2, pp. 1012-13. 

" Report of Office of Experiment Stations, 1909, p. 226. 



Agricultural Education g 

The Massachusetts Society for Promoting Agricuhure tried, as 
early as 1796 and 1800, to act as a medium for the exchange 
of ideas and discoveries in agriculture and for their spread 
throughout the state. Stock exhibits in the state gave rise to 
various societies in the first decade of the nineteenth century. 
These societies were responsible for the efforts to introduce 
agriculture into the Massachusetts schools already mentioned. 
In New York almost from the beginning of the century to the 
establishment of the College of Agriculture at Cornell in 1868, 
speakers were furnished to local clubs by the State Agricultural 
Society. The first agricultural society in New Hampshire, so 
far as known, worked under a charter granted in 1814. The 
county societies received state aid from 1817 to 1820. The Maine 
legislature in 1832 voted premiums to the various agricultural 
societies ; and the required reports of the exhibitors were printed 
in the Maine Farmer, and were discussed by the farmers' clubs 
throughout the state. 

State boards of agriculture, organized under one name or 
another toward the middle of the century and after, have served 
as central bodies to direct farmers' institutes, manage state fairs, 
carry on investigations and tests, and protect farm interests from 
various forms of pests and injury. The 44 states and terri- 
tories reporting for the year ending June 30, 1909, show an 
aggregate of 15,535 half-day sessions in 5,014 institutes, ad- 
dressed by 1,130 state speakers and possibly three times as many 
more local speakers. The cost of these institutes amounted to 
$328,660.86.^^ Almost 40 per cent of the state lecturers hold 
college degrees, and another 16 per cent have taken partial col- 
lege courses.^'® 

Since 1903, federal aid, other than financial, has been ex- 
tended to the state institutes through a " farmers' institute 
specialist," attached to the Office of Experiment Stations. 

Akin to these are the various activities of the agricultural 

"Yearbook, Department of Agriculture, 1909, p. 137. 
" Based on data in History of Fanners' Institutes in the United States, 
by John Hamilton, Bull. 174, Office of Experiment Stations,Hp. 7. 



lo Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

colleges. They conduct " short courses " of from one week to 
several months, during the winter, which are open to all, offer 
correspondence courses, and run traveling schools, such as the 
so-called " corn specials," " alfalfa trains," etc. This unique 
form of school is a train of several cars fitted up as small 
museums, lecture rooms, and quarters for the instructors. Stops 
are made at small stations and cross-roads on the railroad accord- 
ing to an advertised schedule for a short time varying from 
several minutes to a few hours. Another form of college exten- 
sion work is the boys' club contests for the exhibition of corn, 
cotton, or other produce of local importance, held in the various 
counties of the state, while the corresponding girls' home 
economics clubs make appropriate displays. The University of 
Illinois inaugurated the plan of having the prizes take the form 
of trips to the university during the winter short course. 

While the government funds are distributed to the agricultural 
colleges by the Department of the Interior, the Department of 
Agriculture acts as the great clearing house for the activities 
of the colleges and experiment stations, prosecutes extensive 
scientific investigations at home and abroad, and seeks to control 
or lessen disasters of interstate importance to agricultural inter- 
ests, such as the cotton-boll weevil and the foot-and-mouth dis- 
ease. These various reports and findings are issued as regular 
or special publications of the department. 

No less wonderful than the development of the agricultural 
college has been the rapid growth within the present decade 
of the agricultural movement in the elementary and secondary 
schools of our public school system. Instruction in the rudiments 
of agriculture is required in the elementary schools of Alabama, 
Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Mis- 
souri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, 
Texas, West Virginia, and Wisconsin, fifteen in all.^^ 



^' From reports of state superintendents to the author and the United 
States Department of Agriculture. See Annual Report Office of Ex- 
periment Stations, 1906, p. 271 and Report of the Commissioner of 
Education, 1919, vol. i, pp. 276-277. 



Agricultural Education ii 

There seems to be no data at present upon which to base even 
an approximate estimate of the number of children receiving 
instruction of this sort in elementary schools. 

There are many private institutions of special character offer- 
ing instruction along agricultural lines. These are, for the most 
part, of secondary grade, or of mixed secondary and elementary 
grade, although some of the denominational schools do work 
of college grade outside of the agriculture. Some are benevolent 
institutions of unique character, as the Mount Hermon School, 
founded by D. L. Moody, at Mount Hermon, Mass. ; the Baron 
De Hirsch School at Woodbine, N. J.; Hampton Institute; Dr. 
Washington's famous experiment at Tuskegee, and others. 
Agricultural work of some sort is coming to hold a large place 
in the occupational instruction of many orphanages, corrective 
institutions, and other charitable enterprises.^^ It is a question 
in the case of some of these how far the work is consciously 
used as an instrument for the education of higher mental pro- 
cesses, and how exclusively it is confined to routine manual labor 
incidental to the operation of lands belonging to the school. 

For the purpose of this bulletin, the secondary schools may 
be divided roughly into the following types : ( i ) The general, 
public high school. (2) The private academy, which still sur- 
vives occasionally alongside of the public high school and bids 
for support from the same clientage, but which more often 
performs the functions of a high school for the community. 
The schools of this type that teach agriculture may not number 
more than a dozen, and for many purposes of this study, may 
be considered as belonging in the same class with the publiq 
high school. In these non-specialized schools, the time given 
to agriculture may vary from a four-week " normal course " 
to a four-year course. The courses are usually a half or a 
full year in length, elective or required. (3) The technical 
high school of agriculture, which exists primarily to give in- 
struction in the agricultural sciences and a certain familiarity 



** J. R. Jewell, Agricultural Education, pp. 64, 65, 79, 83, and 84. 



12 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

with the art of farming. The non-agricultural studies may vary 
from three-fourths to five-sixths of the time in a given term 
or year in some schools, down to a proportion as low as a tenth 
of the time in certain terms of other schools. So that the 
line of demarcation between these and the one extreme of the 
general public high school is sometimes one of name and or- 
ganization only. This will be discussed more fully in Chapter 
VI. (4) A type of special school giving agricultural work of 
secondary grade, is the teachers' training school, whether main- 
tained by the state, county, or town. The output of the state 
normal schools is largely absorbed by the elementary schools 
of cities and towns where agriculture is not taught, and where 
it has practically no influence on the nature-study given. The 
work of the state normal schools is largely important in this 
study for its bearing on the rural high school teacher problem, 
but is too large a subject to be considered in this study. 



CHAPTER II 
THE PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOL 

At present there is a gap between our primary schools in country 
and city and the industrial collegiate courses which must be closed, 
and if necessary the nation must help the state to close it. Too often 
our present schools tend to put altogether too great a premium upon 
mere literary education, and therefore to train away from the farm 
and shop. — Theodore Roosevelt. 

Importance of Agricultural Instruction in the High 

School 

Several considerations point to the importance of agricultural 
instruction in high schools. One is the large dependence of the 
rural elementary schools upon the local high schools for their 
supply of teachers. The officers of 132 high schools reporting 
on this point indicate an approximate estimate of 1,722 pupils, 
out of the total enrollment of 11,977, who later teach in the 
country schools. Returns from 160 high schools show that 
4,071 pupils, out of the total enrollment of 15,243, are from 
farm homes. These schools minister to a constituency of nearly 
half a million people. This has a bearing on the problem to 
whatever extent we believe these schools should relate their 
work closely to the interests of the community. 

Attention has been called by Professor Thorndike^ to the 
fact that " the most typical, in the sense of the most frequent, 
secondary school in the United States is a school taught by 
one teacher. The secondary schools in the country with only 
one teacher outnumber by a considerable figure all those with 
five or more teachers. Those with only one or two teachers 
outnumber by a considerable figure all the rest. Those with 
one, two, or three teachers are ten times as frequent as those 



^Educational Review, Vol. ^;i, March, 1907, pp. 245-255. 



14 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

with ten or more teachers and five times as frequent as those 
with from five up to ten teachers. "- 

The data in the report of the United States Commissioner 
of Education for 1904, from which he makes his computations, 
show that out of a total of 7,174 high schools in United States 
up to that time there were 2,175 ^i§h schools with but one 
teacher, 1,807 with two teachers, 1,221 with three teachers; or 
3,982 with one or two teachers, and 5,203 with three teachers 
or less. 

The same data also show that over 36 per cent of the high- 
school pupils of the United States are in these schools with 
three teachers or less. 

Types of Secondary Schools Teaching Agriculture 

From the standpoint of the average American citizen, sec- 
ondary schools giving instruction in agriculture fall into two 
groups: (i) Those supported by public funds, regardless of 
how the money is raised, and (2) schools supported by private 
benefactions. From the standpoint of administration, however, 
the line of cleavage is rather between the general, or non- 
specialized, public high school with agriculture included among 
the various other studies taught, and the special, or technical, 
agricultural high school. Many technical agricultural schools 
are private, but appealing to a general constituency, while many 
others, both public and private, are for mental and moral de- 
linquents. None of these technical schools will be considered 
in this work except those maintained by public funds and open 
to the young people of the community, and then but briefly in 
Chapter VI. 

The general high school offering instruction in agriculture is 
of practically every type recognized among public schools, except 
the large city type. The political units supporting it range from 
villages and parts of townships to counties. The special schools, 
on the other hand, are supported almost without exception by 
the larger political units, the county, the congressional or special 
district, or the state at large. 

^Educational Review, vol. 33, March, 1907, table I, p. 253. 



The Public High School 15 

The aim of the special schools is avowedly vocational. They 
possess facilities for carrying on practical farming in its various 
branches, which are surprisingly complete in view of the short 
time since the inception of the idea. Where these schools have 
started de novo we find the most radical departure in the way 
of equipment and curriculum. Where agricultural departments 
have been grafted on to existing institutions, or where these 
have been " reorganized," there we find the least innovation. 
This statement, with appropriate change of phraseology, applies 
equally well to the public school. 

We find special schools on the one hand with but few acres 
of land or no ground at all for practical work, and on the other 
hand with large tracts for the illustration of quite diversified 
methods of farming. Sometimes we find fair-sized observation 
tracts but no room for outdoor laboratory work ; if the students 
do farm work in such schools, much of it may be as day laborers 
working out their board, diminishing the time for school work 
proper. This is not apt to be carried to such an extreme in 
the case of publicly supported schools as in private or denomina- 
tional schools, where the underlying principles are often ignored. 
In the matter of curriculum, we may find at one extreme no 
cultural elements save a very limited amount of English, and 
perhaps civics, and at the other extreme we find schools estab- 
lished ostensibly as " agricultural high schools," or calling 
themselves by that name, with the usual Latin-scientific courses, 
with distinct agriculture running as a parallel course through 
three or four years. With very few exceptions, this last-named 
arrangement represents the most advanced position of the gen- 
eral high school, and at this point the characteristics of the two 
large groups overlap. While this was the case in some of the 
Alabama district schools as shown by their catalogues but two 
or three years back, we now find the position reversed, with 
agriculture required of all for five semesters and an option of 
substituting Latin for it during the last three semesters. This 
course, outlined in Chapter VI, went into effect September, 1909. 

The Alabama state superintendent of education is revising the 
high-school course of study so as to include the subject of 
agriculture for county high schools established under the act 



1 6 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

of August 7, 1907. These schools receive $2,000 annually from 
the state. High schools have been established under these pro- 
visions in 34 of the 67 counties of the state. 

County high schools in Kansas must prepare for the State 
Agricultural College as well as for other colleges, but reports 
both from the Agricultural College and the State University 
seem to indicate that the strong influence of the latter is thrown 
decidedly on the side of classical work and indirectly against 
agricultural work. 

The parish or county " agricultural " schools now being estab- 
lished in Louisiana are organized under the general high-school 
law. They receive the same state aid, about $350 for the year 
1909-10, that county high schools have heretofore been given, 
although a great effort is now being made to secure an appro- 
priation of $25,000 for the county schools teaching agriculture.^ 
These schools are on the same basis as other approved high 
schools, and do four years' work, from the eighth to the eleventh 
grades inclusive. For the present they will admit only boys, 
although domestic science courses for girls may be added later. 
Each school must be provided by the county with certain pre- 
scribed facilities in the way of " apparatus $300, equipment 
$300, land not less than 5 acres, barns, teams, etc." The course 
in agriculture is distinct from other high-school courses, although 
some schools have both literary and agricultural courses. So 
far as purpose and content of instruction go, those without 
the literary courses might strictly be classed with " agricultural " 
schools, while the others although supported in the same way 
may properly be included among the non-specialized high 
schools. Nine have so far been established, in Arcadia, Bunkie, 
Dodson, Hope Villa, Jacoby, Leesville, Merryville, Stonewall, 
and in one other village. 

In Michigan the course of study for rural township high 
schools " may include instruction in manual training, domestic 
science, nature-study and the elements of agriculture." 

The legislature of Minnesota, in 1909, provided aid for the 
establishment of departments of agriculture, manual training, 

3 The legislature of 1910 gave $50,000 for special work in agriculture. 
This will give each school $1,200 to $1,500. 



The Public High School 17 

and home economics, to the extent of two-thirds the amount 
expended by the school, but not to exceed $2,500 for each school. 
This aid was restricted to ten high or consolidated schools the 
first year, and to the same number of additional schools each 
succeeding two years. The school must have ample facilities, 
instructors qualified to teach the industrial subjects, and 5 acres 
of land. The entire quota was filled the first year, by ten high 
schools, namely : Albert Lea, Alexandria, Canby, Cokato, Glen- 
coe, Hinckley, Mcintosh, Red Wing, and Wells, and one con- 
solidated graded school at Lewiston. 

Mississippi has a law, passed in 1908, and reenacted in 1910 
in form to meet constitutional objections, "An Act to provide 
for the establishment and equipment of county agricultural high 
schools and to provide for the equipment and maintenance of 
same." It provides that " instruction shall be given in high 
school branches, theoretical and practical agriculture, domestic 
science, and in such other branches as the board . . . may 
make a part of the curriculum, subject to review and correction 
by the state board of education." It will be seen that the degree 
to which these schools are purely agricultural depends somewhat 
upon the nature of the curriculum, one school including Latin 
and Greek in its projected course of study. Every school, how- 
ever, must have 40 acres of land and suitable buildings, includ- 
ing dormitory accommodations for 40 students, before receiving 
the $1,500 aid from the state. The law is quoted more fully 
in Chapter VL 

The state of Virginia in its agricultural instruction combines 
the plan used in Michigan, Nebraska, and New York, of having 
a state-wide system of high-school normal training classes, with 
the Wisconsin plan of having a county normal training class 
housed in the building used by the agricultural school, while the 
geographical unit is that used by the Alabama and Georgia 
agricultural schools. The catalogues and letterheads of several 
of these schools variously bear the legend of " training school," 

" high school," " agricultural high school," and the th 

congressional district agricultural school," showing the lack of 
official sanction of any particular title. The state superintendent 
reports that there is " no legal designation for agricultural 



1 8 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

schools when they continue the classical or college preparatory- 
work as before." The five schools thus reorganized by 1909 
all maintain college preparatory (classical) courses, and the 
other four may be doing so. In some cases the schools report 
that the growth of the agricultural work has been impeded by 
the reluctance of the local patrons to allow the agriculture to 
be substituted for anything else, instead of its being superadded 
to an already full curriculum. 

None of the state laws or regulations, so far as I have been 
able to determine, contain anything to obstruct the introduction 
of agricultural instruction in the high-school curriculum if it 
received the sanction of the proper supervisory authority. In- 
deed, its actual introduction into the high schools of many 
states is largely due to the persistent efiforts of the state depart- 
ments of public instruction. For example, the state departments 
of Indiana, Michigan, New Hampshire, and New York, have 
carefully planned curricula centering about the agricultural sub- 
jects for the guidance of high schools and academies. Several 
state universities have defined such a " unit in agriculture " as 
they will accept for entrance credit into courses leading to 
one or more degrees. The Massachusetts Industrial Commis- 
sion and the Agricultural College at Amherst are performing a 
like service for their state, exercising close personal supervision 
over the work at Montague and Petersham through Professor 
W. R. Hart, in charge of education at the Agricultural College, 
and through the agents of the commission. Professor W. H. 
French, late of the department of public instruction of Michigan, 
holds a similar position at the Michigan Agricultural College, 
and has oversight of the effort to conduct a model agricultural 
high-school course at North Adams. 

From the foregoing survey it will readily be seen that the 
term " agricultural high school " is largely a matter of definition. 
It would seem as logical for a high school offering Latin and 
a four-year commercial course to call itself a commercial high 
school, as for one offering Latin and a four-year agricultural 
course to call itself an agricultural high school. According to 
its course of study, the Cecil County Agricultural School, Cal- 
vert, Md., requires all of its students to take both Latin and 



The Public High School 19 

agriculture.* During the year 1907-8, forty students were 
enrolled in the first and second years ; so that it is hardly proper 
to offer an adverse criticism because any of the work is not 
elective. During the year 1908-9, one, at least, of the con- 
gressional district agricultural schools of Alabama required its 
students to take both Latin and agriculture."' Sixty pupils Vv^ere 
enrolled in the eighth (the first year of high-school work), ninth, 
and tenth grades. 

A school in Mississippi, organized under "An Act to provide 
for the establishment of county agricultural high schools," and 
advertised to open September, 1909, includes Latin and Greek 
in the second and third years of its suggested course of a 
study.*' 

On the other hand, the printed courses of study of the Beaver- 
head County High School, Dillon, Mont. ; the Guthrie County 
High School, Panora, Iowa; and the Norton County High 
School, Norton, Kans., for 1907, 1908, and 1909, respectively, 
show that optional courses of four years each are offered in the 
classics, commerce, and agriculture. But these schools consider 
themselves only general, or non-specialized, high schools. The 
township high schools at Petersham, Mass., and Waterford, Pa., 
offer classical and agricultural " courses " of four years each, 
while the John Swaney School, Magnolia township, Putnam 
county. 111., offers a choice between Latin and agriculture or 
manual training in each of the four years for the boys, and 
between Latin and home economics for the girls. The John 
Swaney and Petersham township high schools enrolled in the 
first and second years' work (the only ones yet in operation) 
only 32 and 37 pupils, respectively, in the year 1907-8, but 
neither made it necessary for every student to take Latin, nor 
did they style themselves " agricultural high schools."' although 
the former has an 8-acre state demonstration plat, and the 
latter 2 acres for student experimentation. But these can hardly 
be classed with the 150-acre farm forming the experiment sta- 
tion of the school at Athens, Ala. 

^ Proceedings of the National Education Association, for 1908, p. 409. 
* Catalogue of Eighth District Agricultural School, Athens, Ala. 
"Catalogue of Yalobusha Covmty Agricultural High School and Ex- 
periment Station. 



20 



Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 



It seems reasonable that the term " agricultural high school " 
should be restricted to an institution that requires all of its 
students to take agriculture, that does not require them to take 
the classics, or still better does not even teach the classics at 
all, that does require its students to devote to agriculture at least 
one-fourth of the entire time, that is, to give it as much atten- 
tion as any other full-time subject, and that makes definite pro- 
vision for practice in farm operation. It is equally important 
that the school should make ample provision for the other 
sciences. Some schools are attempting to make " agriculture " 
take the place of the foundation sciences. A school using this 
title should devote at least one-third or one-half of its time 
to agriculture and the related sciences. However, where insti- 
tutions are designed by law as agricultural high schools, though 
they are really general public high schools there is no alternative 
but to so classify them. It is not necessary to do so in cases 
where state departments and local boards are appropriating 
the term without specific authorization, as in Louisiana and 
Virginia. These cases will be treated more fully later. 

Legislation 

An examination of the school laws of a large number of states, 
most of them as late as 1907 or 1908, and a few later, fails to 
show many specific references to the teaching of agriculture in 
the general public high school. But much important legislation 
was enacted during the sessions of 1908, 1909, and 1910. 

The state superintendent of New Jersey has ruled that agri- 
cultural instruction comes within the intent of the act of 1903, 
granting state aid equal to the appropriations made by the local 
communities for industrial instruction, from $250 to $7,500.'^ A 
somewhat similar provision with a lower limit of $3,000 has 
been in force since 1881. The remarkable thing is that no school 
has so far taken advantage, for agricultural purposes, of this 
most liberal provision of any state in the Union for industrial 
education. The laws of Vermont refer to the teaching of " in- 



'' Report of the committee on industrial education in schools for rural 
communities, National Education Association. Proceedings and ad- 
dresses, 1907, p. 434. 



The Public High School 21 

dustrial science," and those of Maine to the teaching of the 
" natural sciences in their apphcation to mechanics, manufacture, 
and agriculture " ; but no evidence of such teaching has been 
found in the public schools of either state. The legislature of 
Maine in 1907 made an appropriation of $500 a year. 

In county high schools of Nebraska " there shall be taught 
and practiced in the ninth and tenth grades, manual training, 
domestic science, and the elements of agriculture " ; and the 
methods of teaching agriculture in the normal classes of the 
eleventh and twelfth grades. They must also conduct an experi- 
mental plat of at least 5 acres. The first high school established 
under this law opened for the year 1909-10 at Kimball, and a 
second has been voted. 

Oklahoma requires agriculture in the " public schools." 

The legislature of Texas in 1909 set aside $32,000 to dupli- 
cate sums from $500 to $2,000 appropriated by school boards 
to establish departments " for the teaching of agriculture, in- 
cluding such courses in manual training and domestic economy 
as are subsidiary to agriculture." Each high school applying 
for such aid must satisfy the state board of education that it 
has ample laboratory facilities and land, and that it will continue 
to maintain the department after the state aid, given for one 
year, is withdrawn. 

The Virginia legislature appropriated, in 1908, $20,000 to 
establish " departments of agriculture, domestic economy, and 
manual training, in at least one high school in each congressional 
district." 

Industrial departments have been added to the school system 
in Appomatox, Appomatox County; Burkeville, Nottoway 
County; Chester, Chesterfield County; Driver, Nansemond 
County; Hampton, Elizabeth City County; Lebanon, Russell 
County; Elk Creek, Grayson County; Middletown, Frederic 
County ; Manasses, Prince William County ; and Bedford Springs, 
Campbell County, supplying all ten districts. Each of these high 
schools has been designated to receive not over $1,500 of the 
$15,000 appropriated for normal traihing departments. 

In those states where this movement is much more wide- 
spread, as in Nebraska and Missouri, the same kind of encour- 



2 2 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

agement was given during the early stages. In Nebraska, where 
agriculture is taught in a larger number of first grade high 
schools than in any other state, much of the later influences can 
be traced to the demand for well trained rural school teachers, 
who come in no small degree from the city high-school training 
classes. 

The spread of agriculture in Ohio, where it is now taught in 
more of the strictly rural high schools than in most of the other 
states considered, is due to the earnest and sympathetic cam- 
paign carried on by the State University through its agricultural 
extension officer, Professor A. B. Graham. 

Because of the expense of hiring a competent instructor, of 
getting apparatus, and of maintaining an experimental plat, 
many leaders in the movement for agricultural instruction assume 
that its success depends on the establishment of high schools in 
the larger units, as the township, county, or even larger units, 
such as the congressional or judicial district. They feel that a 
township and village together will be better able to furnish 
the needed funds than either township or village alone, and that 
a county high school will be more sympathetic toward the move- 
ment than a high school supported by the city alone. 

Legal provisions exist for the establishment and maintenance 
of county high schools in Alabama, California, Iowa, Kansas, 
Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Oregon, and Ten- 
nessee. High schools for entire townships, parts of the same, 
or for contiguous parts of adjoining townships, may be estab- 
lished in Illinois, Indiana, New Jersey, New York, North Caro- 
lina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Wis- 
consin, and by the New England " towns." Other states have 
also various forms of " special districts." 

Statistics of Schools Teaching Agriculture as a Separate 

Study 

Tables i, 2, 3, and 4 give a conservative statement of the 
schools that are probably doing the agricultural work they 
claim to do, whether it is for half a year or for the entire 



The Public High School 23 

four years. When any considerable number of schools are 
said to teach agriculture, either in the published reports, or in 
private correspondence, the number usually shrinks materially 
when subjected to an impartial examination of each case on its 
own merits. Thus one optimistic state superintendent in 1906 
reported 200 high schools as teaching agriculture in his state. 
The report of his successor made the following year, contain- 
ing the returns from a newly appointed high-school inspector, 
showed only 60 schools. Personal correspondence with the 
school principals of this state justifies the conclusion that not 
over 30 schools taught agriculture that was more than mere 
book work, without even window-sill or tomato-can experi- 
ments. Many of them reported that the subject was not taught 
at all. Recent estimates running into four figures do not seem 
at all warranted by the known facts. It must be said, however, 
that the number of public high schools, both general and special, 
teaching agriculture is increasing with marvelous rapidity. In 
the school year 1906-7, the number probably did not exceed 
75 or 80, even including the agriculture taught in training classes 
attached to high schools. In 1907-8, there were probably be- 
tween 240 and 250; while in 1908-9, the total had risen to the 
neighborhood of 500. It seems safe to say that the number is 
increasing at the rate of about 100 per cent each year. 

Perhaps a better index of the real progress is the number 
of schools having in actual operation two or more years of agri- 
cultural instruction. In 1906-7 there were about 15 general and 
special schools giving instruction for two or more years, most 
of these being special schools. In 1907-8, the number had in- 
creased to 22, about one-third of which were general high schools, 
while several other schools were starting this more extensive 
work. In 1908-9, the number of high schools and academies 
that serve their communities as public high schools offering 
such work was at least 24, while 28 more receiving state aid 
were of mixed character, usually offering more or less classical 
work, but sometimes calling themselves agricultural high schools. 
The number of strictly agricultural secondary schools receiving 
state aid was close to 35. In addition to these, 9 organized the 
following year would be classified under the first heading, 10 



24 



Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 



under the second, and lo under the third, including the 4 au- 
thorized in Arkansas and now organizing. 

These schools are enumerated by states, and classified accord- 
ing to the views expressed in the preceding pages. 

The second classification by states is in accordance with the 
legal designation or with the local or popular reputation and 
claims. That these claims are sometimes not warranted is 
apparent on examination of the curriculum, equipment, and 
work of a number of the schools mentioned in Table 2, and 
comparison with the same criteria of a number of schools in 
the first column of Table i. The few private academies in- 
cluded in Table i, are known to serve the purpose of public 

Table 1 

High Schools and Academies Offering Instruction in Agri- 
culture FOR Two OR More Years 



Schools depending 

on local support 

or patronage 



Schools receiving state 

aid and offering general 

high school work 

Alabama 9 

Louisiana c4 

Minnesota 63 

Mississippi 6 

Oklahoma 1 

Virginia d5 

Total 28 

Starting in 1910. . . 10 



Technical schools 

receiving state aid 

for agriculture ' 

Arkansas eO 

California 2 

Georgia 12 

Louisiana c5 

Massachusetts 2 

Michigan 1 

Minnesota 1 

New York 3 

Oklahoma /2 

Pennsylvania 1 

Texas 1 

Wisconsin ^5 

Total hS5 

Starting in 1910. . . 10 



California 

Elinois 

Iowa 

Kansas 

Maryland 

Massachusetts . . 

Michigan 

Montana 

New Hampshire. 

New York 

Pennsylvania . . . 

Tennessee 

Utah 

Vermont 

West Virginia. . . 



Total 

Starting in 1910. 



24 
9 



a This school has applied for state aid. 

b Six more will institute agricultural departments in igio. 

c Four of these Louisiana schools do not offer classical work, and five offer agricultural 
but not literary courses, but all operate under the general law. 

dTen in all are now organized. Many of these offer classical courses. Information 
at hand does not show how many offer more than one year of agricultural work. 

e Two schools have already been located and two more will be in 1910. 

/ Four others are in operation in igio. 

g Two others already authorized will open in September, 1910. 

h" State agricultural high schools " are maintained in connection with 34 agricultural 
colleges. See Office Expt. Stas. Circ. 83, p. 21, May 27, 1909. 



The Public High School 25 

high schools for their respective communities, notably in New 
Hampshire and Vermont. The Alabama schools noted in the 
tables are the " congressional district agricultural schools." It 
is the plan of the state department of education soon to include 

Table 2 

Secondary Schools Classified as Agricultural High Schools by 

Law, Popular Reputation, Local Claims, or on the Merits 

OF Their Curriculum, for the Year 1908-9 

Alabama 9 (new county high school not included) 

Arkansas (see note "e" under Table 1) 

California 2 

Georgia 12 

Louisiana 9 

Maryland 1 (now 2) 

Massachusetts 3 

Michigan 1 

Minnesota 1 

Mississippi 6 

New York 3 

Oklahoma 2 (now 6) 

Pennsylvania 1 

Virginia 5 (now 10) 

Wisconsin 5 (7 by September, 1910) 

Total 60 for 1908-9 ; including those since 

located or authorized ... 76 

a four-year course in agriculture in the new county high schools, 
34 of which have already been organized. These do not appear 
in the tables. 

Tables 1,2,3, ^^^ 4 include not only schools reporting directly, 
but those about which there is little doubt. Therefore, they are 
approximate rather than exact. The totals should probably be 

Table 3 

Special Schools Classified According to the Size of the Geo- 
graphical Unit Served 

State high schools, not counting high-school departments located at the 

agricultural colleges 8 

Special district schools of Arkansas (not yet started) 4 

Congressional district schools of Alabama, Georgia, and Virginia 29 

Judicial and other districts of Oklahoma 6 

Total 47 

County high schools of purely agricultural type 13 

County high schools with agriculture and general courses 29 

Total 42 



2 6 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

larger. Figures from Ohio township and village schools unre- 
ported would, no doubt, bring the total number of public high 
schools listed in Table 4 close to 500. 

The special districts of Arkansas having from 17 to 20 coun- 
ties each, are nearly twice the size of the congressional districts 
of the state. The judicial districts of Oklahoma, averaging about 
15 counties each, are about the same size as the congressional 
districts but not conterminous with them. The " Panhandle " 
district has three counties. 

About one-third of 35 district schools seem to be offering 
general high-school courses including classics. 

The 8 county high schools noted offer two-year courses. 
Many of the others provide but two or three years of strictly 
high-school work. 

Many of the county high schools with general courses are 
being organized, or reorganized to provide instruction in agri- 
culture, and many others have doubtless not been reported. 

In the following table are included high schools with courses 
in agriculture of one-half year or more. The geographical 
divisions and the classification according to population are those 
used in the reports of the United States Commissioner of Edu- 
cation. So far as known but one township has a population 
over 4,000, and that on account of the township high-school dis- 
trict containing the city of DeKalb, 111., of about 10,000 popula- 
tion. The counties are kept separate, because the population 
is almost entirely rural, although they always run over 4,000 
but scarcely ever include cities of over 4,000. 

The classification of general high schools most serviceable for 
the purposes of this study is based on the political unit served 
by the school, which gives us the high schools of (a) county, 
(b) city, (c) village, (d) township, fe) special district, and (f) 
the quasi-public academies before mentioned, not drawing from 
a circumscribed area. 

The county high school may not necessarily be, but usually is, 
situated at the county seat, and so is apt to have a high per- 
centage of urban students, more so than in schools in villages 
of 2,000 or less. (See Table 10.) The township high school 
is often several miles from any village, but usually includes at 



Tlie Public High School 



27 



least an unincorporated hamlet. The township high school often 
shares a building with a " consolidated " or " centralized " ele- 
mentary school, and is then governed by the same school board 
and principal, but in some states it operates under a different 
board with separate taxing powers, as in Illinois. The special 
district high school may resemble any of the other types except 
the county high school. It may be supported by a city or 
village and the immediately surrounding territory; it may be 
composed of two or more contiguous country school districts, 
forming a sort of " part township high school " ; or it may con- 
sist of parts of adjoining townships. The returns do not always 
indicate the nature of such special districts. 

Table 4 
Public High Schools with Courses in Agriculture 



Kind of School 
District 


North 

Atlantic 
States 


South 

Atlantic 

States 


South 
Central 
States 


North 
Central 
States 


West- 
ern 

States 


Total 


County or part of 

lownship or parts of . . . 
Villages less than 4,000. 
Cities over 4,000 




4 
ab 

1 


2 

1 

b2 

1 


29 
1 

63 
3 


7 

89 

c-dl08 

24 


4 

3 
1 


42 

95 

dl2l 

30 


Total 


10 


6 


36 


228 


8 


288 







a In New York 3 5 villages and cities have agriculture in the training course but not 
in the regular four- year course. 

b The table excludes a large number of village schools having a four-weeks' " review 
course." 

c The table excludes a large number of villages doing no laboratorj'- or demonstration 
work, and those schools professing to teach agriculture only incidentally. 

d A large number of schools should be included in the table but returns necessary to 
classify them are not at hand; among these may be mentioned about 350 schools in the 
North Central States alone, including 222 in Nebraska not already counted. See page 30 

The schools reporting may be grouped into two classes accord- 
ing to the type of instruction: those teaching agriculture as a 
distinct subject and those giving attention to it only as an inci- 
dent in the teaching of the sciences usually given in high schools. 
This second class will receive its chief attention in the latter 
part of this chapter, with occasional references in appropriate 
sections of other chapters. 

Over 75 per cent of the first class sent in more or less full 
reports following, in most cases, a preliminary postal card 



28 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

inquiry, while only 32 per cent of the second class so responded. 
This might seem to represent fairly well the relative importance 
attached to the work by the principals, and, judging from the 
check on their work by later questions, it probably represents 
equally well the degree of seriousness with which outsiders may 
regard the work done. The absence of experiments by the 
pupils or demonstrations by the teacher in the sciences given, 
or the use of any of the government bulletins and similar lit- 
erature, seems to furnish a basis of fact for the contempt held 
by many for all so-called *' incidental " or " correlated " agri- 
cultural work. The fact should not be overlooked, however, that 
not a few high schools listing agriculture as a separate subject 
for a half-year or longer are equally lacking in both the tools 
and the methods of instruction. It will also be seen from the 
notes on certain schools given in the next chapter, that a very 
high grade of agricultural instruction is sometimes given in 
connection with other science work. 

The following tables show the distribution according to 
regions, type of schools, total enrollment in the various schools, 
enrollment in the agricultural classes, proportion of such classes 
to total enrollment, percentage from farm homes, and total 
number of such pupils. All the remaining tables in this chap- 
ter are based on returns received from the schools themselves. 

Tables 5, 6, and 7 show the distribution according to regions, 
population, and number reporting more or less fully. The 

Table 5 
Agriculture Taught as a Separate Study 



Kind of School 
District 


North 
Atlantic 

States 


South 

Atlantic 

States 


South 
Central 

States 


North 
Central 
States 


West- 
ern 
States 


Total 


Cities of 4,000 and over. 
Cities of less than 4,000. 
Counties (a) 



4 



1 
4 
1 


6 
1 
3 


19 

146 

6 


1 
3 

1 


27 

158 

11 






Total 


4 


6 


10 


171 


5 


196 







a The counties are kept separate in Tables 5 and 6 because they always run over 4,000 
but are essentially rural in population, and often include no towns with over 4,000 popu- 
lation. 



The Public High School 



29 



geographical regions and rough population units are those used 
in the reports of the United States Commissioner of Education. 
The population is that of the city, village, township, or county 
supporting the school. A number of academies reported which 



Table 6 
Agriculture Taught Incidentally 



Kind of School 
District 


North 

Atlantic 
States 


South 

Atlantic 

States 


South 
Central 

States 


North 
Central 
States 


West- 
ern 

States 


Total 


Cities of 4,000 and over. 
Cities of less than 4,000. 
Counties (a) 


1 
5 



1 

2 


1 


1 


6 

30 

3 


1 
2 
1 


10 

37 

7 






Total 


6 


3 


2 


39 


4 


54 







a The counties are kept separate in Tables s and 6 because they always run over 4,000 
but are essentially rural in population, and often include no towns with over 4,000 popu- 
lation. 

are not included in these tables because of their not belonging 
to a definitely limited territory. 

While most of the reports received are for the scholastic year 
1907-8, a considerable number of the reports were made out 
for the year 1908-9, and came from schools in which the subject 

Table 7 
Schools Reporting More or Less Fully 



Band of School 
District 


North 
Atlantic 

States 


South 
Atlantic 

States 


South 
Central 
States 


North 
Central 
States 


West- 
ern 

States 


Total 


Per 
cent 


Of those in Table 5 
Of those in Table 6 


4 
6 


3 



6 



126 
10 


3 

2 


142 
18 


75 
32 


Total 


10 


3 


6 


136 


■ 5 


160 





probably was not taught the previous year. A few other reports 
made out for the year 1908-9 are from schools in which agricul- 
ture was taught the previous year. A small number of schools 
included in Table 6 reported for the year 1908-9, having been 
addressed under the impression that they offered instruction in 



30 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

agriculture as a separate branch. The principals of all the 
other schools included in Table 2 were addressed early in 1908. 
Late in the same year names of over 100 schools reputed to 
be giving incidental instruction in agriculture were obtained, 
to which inquiries have not been sent. That agriculture is taught 
or not in all the schools included in the above tables has been 
verified by reports received from the superintendents, principals, 
or special instructors. If the ratio of schools teaching agricul- 
ture to those not teaching it, as shown by the returns from the 
list furnished for Ohio, were maintained by those schools which 
have not reported, about twenty would be added for that state 
for the year 1908-9. Official lists from certain other states 
have so shrunken when checked up by the returns received 
directly from the schools that not much is to be expected from 
those not replying. A few schools included in Table 6, and 
a number not included in either, have reported that they would 
offer distinct work along agricultural lines during the school 
year 1908-9. Fifty-seven high schools in Nebraska reported, 
some on the training class work in the eleventh and twelfth 
grades, some on the agriculture exclusive of the training class, 
and some on both. Twelve reported all of the pupils studying 
agriculture as being in the training classes. Lack of complete 
replies makes it impossible to differentiate accurately for those 
reporting only on the training classes. Information from State 
Superintendent E. C. Bishop shows that in 1909-10, there were 
in Nebraska 202 high schools teaching agriculture in the 
ninth grade, 25 in the tenth grade, 16 in the eleventh 
grade, and 24 in the twelfth grade, total 267. A few of these 
schools may and probably do teach agriculture as a general 
high-school subject, and in the eleventh or twelfth grades for 
training students only. The returns from Nebraska schools 
lead to the belief that these figures can be relied upon as sub- 
stantially correct. 

During the year 1909-10 some seventy local training classes 
in the State of New York are carrying on work in agriculture 
in connection with the nature-study. Table i includes none of 
the New York schools except the very few that have courses in 
agriculture, or teach it incidentally to the general student. The 



The Public High School 



31 



table also omits the numerous high schools in one state that 
offer a " four-weeks' course " to prepare for the county exam- 
ination for third-grade certificate. Advices from educators of 
prominence who have visited nearly all of these schools, made 
it seem advisable to omit them from the enumeration. Their 
work is probably less profitable than the same time spent in 
well conducted laboratory work in botany or chemistry involving 
the principles underlying scientific agriculture. The official 
reports of several states credit a number of schools with classes 
in agriculture while the schools themselves have reported the 



Table 8 
Data from 151 Comparable Schools Furnishing Complete Information 



Kind of School District 


Popula- 
tion 
served 


Enrolled 
in high 
school 


Enrolled 
in agri- 
culture 


From 
farm 
homes 


No. 

of 

schools 


Cities of 4,000 or more (a). . 

Cities and villages less than 

4,000 


118,000 

114,775 

66,225 

161,200 


2,367 

5,529 
2,506 
1,954 


478 

1,657 

785 
308 


455 

2,014 
1,618 
1,234 


13 
83 


Townships (6) 


45 


Counties (c) 


10 






Total 


460,200 


12,356 


3,228 


5,321 


151 







a Includes " special " or " consolidated " districts composed of a village and imme- 
diately surrounding territory, usually less than 6 square miles. 

b Includes towns and cities of whatever size, when all are under the same township 
board and pay the same rate. 

c Includes cities under the same conditions mentioned for townships under (6). 

work as being only " incidental." Since they report little or 
no experimental work done in the sciences either by pupils or 
teacher, doubts naturally arise whether any of the science work 
is worthy of the name. 

During the year 1908-9, 6 Michigan high schools had intro- 
duced four-year courses in agriculture, 10 more Minnesota 
high schools had established departments of agriculture, manual 
training, and home economics, and 34 county high schools were 
organized in Alabama which will be teaching agriculture within 
a year or two in order to receive recognition. By 19 10, 7 parish 
(county) high schools in Louisiana had added agricultural de- 
partments, or were newly established with such departments, and 



32 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

the number of high schools adding departments of agriculture, 
manual training, and home economics in Virginia, had risen 
to nine. 

Some reports omitted one item and some another, so do not 
appear in Table 8. The grand totals given below are for all 
the schools reporting on the several items without regard to 
whether they reported on every item or only part of them. 
The number of schools reporting on each item is indicated by 
the figures in parenthesis. A greater number of cases does 
not necessarily include all of those reporting on an item showing 
a smaller number of cases. 

Grand totals for all the schools reporting on any of the above 
items: Population of districts (i8i), 543,950; enrolled in high 
school (188), 15,977; enrolled in agriculture (176), 3,726; from 
farm homes (164), 5,666; total schools, 188. 

These totals include returns from normal training classes 
in Nebraska high schools that often have other students in 
agriculture who are not in the training class, and who in some 
of these cases were not reported. 

For the year ending June 30, 1909, 335 high schools reported 
to the United States Department of Agriculture, a total enroll- 
ment of 54,700, with 9,500 in the agricultural classes. 

It will be noticed from Table 8 that the 83 smaller cities and 
villages, having less population than the 13 larger ones, have 
two and one-third times as many pupils enrolled in the high 
schools, four times as many taking agriculture, and report 
almost three and one-half times as many pupils as being from 
farm homes. (See Table 10.) The remarkable fact is that the 
13 larger cities should have even a fifth of their enrollment in 
the classes in agriculture, especially since Athens, Ga., with a 
population of 16,000 reports no pupils from farm homes, and 
Lake Charles, La., also with 16,000, reports but 4 per cent 
from farm homes. The two cities contain about one-fourth 
of the 445 pupils enrolled in the agricultural classes in the cities 
of 4,000 and over. However, the subject is a required one in 
these high schools, and most of their 103 students in agricul- 
ture are in the eighth grade, which is usually the first year of 
high school in the South, instead of the last grade of the 



The Public High School 33 

elementary schools as is the case generally in the West and 
North. The counties are kept separate in the tabulations be- 
cause they are apt to contain large elements both rural and 
urban. The high schools of the small towns of 2,000 or less, 
take on many of the characteristics of the township high schools, 
and for the purposes of this investigation show more similarity 
to them than to those of the cities above that figure. Table 9 
is an attempt to display the data of the 151 comparable high 
schools, which are distributed in the table so as to reveal better 
their true nature. Table 10 seeks to show the relationships 
between the enrollment of the various types of school and the 
population of the supporting community. The numbers show 
the high-school enrollment for each 10,000 of population, and 
likewise the enrollment in the classes in agriculture and the 
number reported from farm homes. It should be mentioned 
that some latitude has been used regarding the last item. Under 
this head many principals reported children of parents living 
in town but owning and operating farms. Others in small vil- 
lages report that " nearly every one gardens." Consequently 
the term " from farm homes " more truly means those having 
an immediate interest in agricultural occupations. The broken 
horizontal line in Table 10, separating the communities of less 
than 4,000 from those above, is intended to emphasize the dif- 
ference in the upper and lower groups, and the similarity 
between the right and left groups. 

While it seems natural to expect that the ratio of the items 
in the third and fourth columns should rise in the schools of 
the smaller communities, it is interesting, to say the least, to 
note the similar rise in the ratio of the enrollment of the high 
school itself. Whatever causes operate to lessen the ratio in 
the larger towns will also operate in the case of the counties 
and townships of the larger population, such as those tabulated, 
where a large share of the population is concentrated in the 
principal city. This is true of the one township having over 
8,000 population, but of only one of the seven counties with 
over 8,000, and of two of the three counties with a population 
between 4,000 and 8,000. The remaining two are essentially 
rural. But this seems insufficient to explain the very low ratios 



34 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

in the case of all of the counties, a ratio almost as low as in 
cities of over 8,000 in regard to total enrollment, and lower 
in regard to enrollment in the agricultural classes. The low 
percentage of attendance may be due to the distance the pupils 
must travel if they do not board away from home. The low 
percentage of the agricultural classes would seem to indicate 
the determination of the pupils to get away from the farm. 

Table 9 
Comparative Data for 151 Schools 



Civic Limit 


No. 

of 

schools 


Approx- 
imate 
population 


Enrolled 
in high 
school 


Enrolled 
in agri- 
culture 


From 
farm 
homes 


Cities and villages: 

8,000 and over 

6 000 to 8,000 


4 
5 

4 
26 
57 


65,000 
34,000 
19,000 
61,200 
53,575 


758 

892 

717 

2,475 

3,054 


193 
175 
110 
595 
1,062 


69 
153 


4,000 to 6,000 


233 


2,000 to 4,000 


831 


Under 2,000 


1,183 






Total 


96 


232,775 


7,896 


2,135 


2,469 






Counties: 

8,000 and over 


08 
1 
2 

10 
34 


155,200 
7,000 
9,000 

25,100 
31,125 


2,072 

82 
120 

686 
1,500 


241 
13 

74 

229 
536 


1,118 


6,000 to 8,000 


33 


4,000 to 6,000 


108 


Townships: 

2,000 to 4,000 


429 


Under 2,000 


1,164 






Total 


55 


227,425 


4,460 


1,093 


2,852 






Total for all schools . . 


151 


460,200 


12,356 


3,228 


5,321 



a One is a township containing the county seat and a state normal school. 

These ratios would be more instructive if statistics of the attend- 
ance of boys and girls could be separated. The tables certainly 
furnish a strong argument for those who would strengthen the 
village and township high schools along agricultural lines. The 
argument may be more valid for the richer and more populous 
states than for others with a public high-school system less fully 
developed. 

The tables show, as one might naturally suppose, that most 
of the country children found in high schools are in those of 



The Public Hi^h School 



3S 



the villages and townships. They also show the extent of the 
relationship between the schools and this constituency. 

Data in the World's Almanac, for 1910, compiled by the 
statistician of the Bureau of Education, show for the total 
population of United States, an enrollment in public secondary 
schools of 91 for every 10,000 of population. 

These ratios for high schools outside of cities having a popula- 
tion of 8,000 and over do not differ greatly from those obtained 
by Dr. Snyder in his study on rural schools.® His ratios and 

Table 10 
Ratios of Enrollment per 10,000 of Population 





Cities and villages 


Counties and townships 






En- 


En- 


Re- 




En- 


En- 


Re- 


Population 


No. 


rolled 


rolled 


ported 


No. 


rolled 


rolled 


ported 




of 


in 


in 


from 


of 


in 


m 


from 




schools 


high 


agri- 


farm 


schools 


high 


agri- 


farm 






schools 


culture 


homes 




schools 


culture 


homes 


8,000 and over... 


4 


115 


30 


11 


8 


133 


16 


73 


6,000 to 8,000.... 


5 


262 


51 


45 


1 


117 


19 


47 


4,000 to 6,000.... 


4 


372 


57 


122 


2 


133 


82 


12 


2,000 to 4,000.... 


26 


405 


97 


134 


10 


273 


91 


171 


Under 2,000 


57 


570 


198 


221 


34 


481 


172 


374 



these for the three states, Missouri, Nebraska, and Ohio, are 
shown below, his appearing in the first column. 

Missouri, 332 schools, 2.52 per cent; 35 schools, 3.86.^ 

Nebraska, 365 schools, 5.29 per cent; 47 schools, 4.51. 

Ohio, 782 schools, 5.06 per cent; 41 schools, 3.78. 

A high percentage of pupils enrolled in agricultural classes 

may mean (i) that the work is required instead of elective, 

* E. R. Snyder, The Legal Status of Rural High Schools in the United 
States, p. 136. 

' Most of the school districts included in my returns have less than 
2,000 population, namely, 25 in Missouri, 18 in Nebraska, and 37 in 
Ohio. Dr. Snyder's ratios for cities of 8,000 and over run much higher, 
being 4. 2 2 percent, 7.16 per cent and 4.75 per cent respectively for the three 
states in the order already named. I have returns from no cities of this 
size in these states, but it will be observed that the cities I do cite above 
this population, mostly in the South, give a much lower percentage, 
as do also the county units. But in some of the counties there are other 
high schools drawing from the same population. 



36 Agriadtural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

(2) that work is offered in more than one year of the course, 

(3) that the work is given in alternate years to two classes 
at once, and (4) that the curriculum of the school is only two 
or three years long or, what amounts to the same thing, that 
the school has been organized but one, two, or three years, 
(i) About three-fifths of the schools reporting on this point 
require the subject. All of the 60 or more Nebraska high schools 
maintaining training classes require agricultural work of stu- 



Table 11 
Ratio of Enrollment in Agriculture to Total Enrollment 







Coun- 
















ties 


Vil- 


Town- 










Cities 


and 


lages 


ships 


Vil- 


Town- 




Per cent 


of 4,000 


town- 


of 


of 


lages 


ships 


Total 




and 


ships 


2,000 


2,000 


under 


under 


cases 




over 


of 4,000 
and 
over 


to 
4,000 


to 
4,000 


2,000 


2,000 




91-100 


'2 
4 
3 
3 
4 


1 

'3 
2 
5 


1 

1 

3 
2 

7 
10 

7 


i 

1 

1 
4 
3 


3 

'2 
6 
6 
9 
14 
18 
7 
4 


4 

1 
1 

'4 
8 

12 
4 
3 


9 


81-90 





71-80 


4 


61-70 


8 


51-60 


7 


41-50 


18 


31-40 


28 


21-30 


44 


11-20 


30 


0-10 


26 






Total 


16 


11 


31 


10 


69 


37 


174 



dents in those classes, but make it elective for others. As is 
natural, the smaller the school, such as the new township schools 
of Ohio, the more certain the subject is to be required of all 
students. It is usually placed in the first or second years. ( See 
Chapter IV.) (2) Not more than 12 schools included in the 
full returns offer agricultural courses in more than one year. 
These are found in all groups and in all sizes of schools. (3) 
No data are at hand on this point, but such an arrangement 
of giving the work in alternate years has been reported several 
times. (4) No accurate data are available, but the fact has 



The Public High School 



37 



been mentioned several times in reports from township high 
schools that " this is our first year," or second year, as the 
case might be. 

Table ii shows that in over three-fourths of the schools, the 
ratio of the enrollment in classes in agriculture to the total high- 
school enrollment lies between ii per cent and 50 per cent, 
with a strong " mode " between 21 per cent and 30 per cent, 
almost one-third of the schools being within this range. 



Table 12 
Ratio of Students from Farm Homes to Total Enrollment 







Coun- 
















ties 


Vil- 


Town- 










Cities 


and 


lages 


ships 


Vil- 


Town- 




Per cent 


of 4,000 


town- 


of 


of 


lages 


ships- 


Total 




and 


ships 


2,000 


2,000 


under 


under 


cases 




over 


of 4,000 
and 
over 


to 
4,000 


to 
4,000 


2,000 


2,000 




91-100 


i 

3 

1 
7 
5 


1 

3 
1 
1 
3 
1 
1 


1 

1 
2 
2 
8 
4 
4 
4 


3 
3 
2 

1 
'2 


1 

1 

3 

2 

6 

12 

14 

13 

4 

1 


14 
7 
6 
3 

5 

1 
1 


20 


81-90 


11 


71-80 


14 


61-70 


7 


51-60 


10 


41-50 


23 


31-40 


27 


21-30 


20 


11-20 


17 


0-10 


10 






Total 


17 


11 


26 


11 


57 


37 


159 



Table 12 indicates that over one-half of the schools have 
between 11 per cent and 50 per cent of their total enrollment 
made up of pupils from farm homes. The strongly bimodal 
distribution in Table 12, it will be readily seen, is due to the 
numerous township high schools that are being so rapidly organ- 
ized in Ohio, and that are so rapidly introducing agriculture into 
their course of study. From September, 1906, to November, 
1908, the number of township high schools reporting to Pro- 
fessor Graham of Ohio State University that they were doing 
work in agriculture increased from 10 to 70, and of these the 



38 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Scliools 

cases verified in this study increased from 9 to 37. Many of 
these township districts contain no incorporated village. 

The size of these high schools throughout the entire country 
that are introducing agricultural work is indicated by Table 13, 
which gives all verified cases whose enrollment could be learned 
from any source, both for schools teaching the subject separately 
and for those professing to do agricultural work incidentally. 

Table 13 
Enrollment op the High Schools Reporting 



Enrollment 



Teaching 
agriculture 
separately 



Teaching 
agriculture 
incidentally 



25 or less 

Between 26 and 50 
Between 51 and 75 
Between 76 and 100 
Between 101 and 125 
Between 126 and 150 
Between 151 and 175 
Between 176 and 200 
Between 201 and 250 
Between 251 and 300 
Between 301 and 350 
Between 350 and 400 
Over 400 



16 

49 

29 

25 

16 

13 

2 

3 

6 

4 

2 

2 

2 



5 
15 

4 
1 
1 
4 

1 
2 
7 
1 

1 



Statistics of Schools Teaching Agriculture Incidentally 

Seventeen schools reporting agriculture as taught in connec- 
tion with other sciences, and which give comparable data, are 
in districts with a population of 53,855, and have an enrollment 
of 1,767, with about 600, or over one-third, from the country. 

Table 14 
Ratio op Students prom Farm Homes to Total Enrollment 



Number 
of schools 
reporting 

5 
4 
4 

4 



Enrollment 

of 

pupils 

1,047 
213 
233 
197 



Per cent of 
pupils from 
farm homes 

0-25 
26-50 
51-75 
76-100 



The Public High School 39 

Thus the five cities with an average of 13 per cent from farm 
homes have 32,700 inhabitants, over half the total population 
of the districts tributory to these schools, and 1,047, o^ more 
than half of the total enrollment. In striking contrast with 
this, the remaining 12 schools, in communities with less than 

Table 15 
Science Work Reported 



Science 



Botany 

Chemistry 

Physics 

Physical geography . 
Zoology 



Number 
of times 
reported 



30 
10 
7 
26 
10 



20,000 inhabitants, enroll 720 students in their high schools, 
of whom approximately 460, or 64 per cent, are estimated to 
be from country homes. But even in the larger cities reporting, 
the number of families represented who depend for their liveli- 
hood upon the calling of agriculture is probably as large pro- 

Table 16 
Number of Sciences Reported 



Number of schools Science 

reporting reported 



17 1 

10 2 

77 3 

5 4 

1 6 

portionally as the number depending on any other single voca- 
tion. This being so, it deserves at least an incidental treatment 
in the sciences as truly as do steel making and photography 
in chemistry, or electric wiring and telephony in physics. Almost 
any one may have the opportunity to do something, as an 
amateur, with vegetable and flower gardening, and many do 



40 



Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 



so, while any one cannot do so in most of the other trades, 
as most people are effectually prevented from casual partici- 
pation in them. 

Of the 58 schools reporting agriculture taught in connection 
with other sciences, 37 have specified the sciences involved, 8 
or 10 were not asked, and the remaining schools did not reply 
to the question. 

Table 17 
Time Given Each Science 



Botany 


Chemistry 


Physics 


Physical 
Geography 


Zoology 


No. of 
schools 


Min- 
utes 


No. of 
schools 


Min- 
utes 


No. of 
schools 


Min- 
utes 


No. of 
schools 


Min- 
utes 


No. of 
schools 


Min- 
utes 


1 

4 
1 
2 

i' 
i' 
i 


1,680 

3^000 
3,600 
4,000 

7^200 

8^640 

10380 


1 
1 

i 

i 
1 


1,680 

4^800 
8^000 

14366 
16^200 


1 

i 

1 
1 


4^800 

10 ; 080 

15^120 
16,200 


1 
1 

"2 
2 

1 
1 

1 

■ ■ 


1^800 
2,400 

3^600 
4,000 

5^640 
7,200 
8,000 


1 

i 

1 
1 


1,680 

4^000 

5^646 
7,200 



In many of these schools botany and physical geography were 
the only sciences taught, sometimes only one being given. 

A convenient unit of high-school work is an eighteen-weeks' 
course, five times a week, forty minutes a day, which totals 
3,600 minutes. If the study be carried through thirty-six weeks, 
we should have 7,200 minutes. The number of weeks reported 
in the several schools varied from twelve to forty; the number 
of minutes from 120 to 540 a week ; and the time given to work 
" other than recitation," from 60 to 270 minutes a week. The 
largest number of minutes of laboratory work is found in 
schools giving the most time to the subject. 



The Public High School 41 

Out of 33 schools reporting on experimental work, 12 stated 
that no experimental work was done in science, 9 reported that 
" some " or " very little " was done, leaving 12 answering " yes " 
without qualification. Of these 12, 4 specified the work as 
being principally demonstrations by the teacher, and 2 that it 
was chiefly individual work done by the pupils. Three of the 
12 gave less than 25 per cent of the time to work other than 
recitations, 4 gave from 25 per cent to 50 per cent and 5 gave 
50 per cent or more. 

Ten schools included in Table 17 and only 15 of the entire 
37 schools reporting agriculture as taught incidentally, stated 
that they made use of agricultural bulletins, reference books, 
etc. As the texts specified for the various subjects contain little 
or no reference to the agricultural application of the principles 
of the several sciences, it will be apparent that many of the 
claims that agriculture is taught in connection with these sciences 
rests upon a doubtful basis, and that it is often impossible to 
estimate the value of such work without a personal visit, which 
has been made in some cases. 

Table 17 gives the time devoted to the several sciences obtained 
by multiplying the minutes per week by the number of weeks 
for the subject. Fifteen schools furnished the data necessary 
for this table. 



CHAPTER III 

SOME TYPICAL HIGH SCHOOLS TEACHING AGRI- 
CULTURE 

A number of schools scattered between the North Atlantic 
coast and the Missouri River were visited in May and June, 
1908. These included fairly representative examples of county, 
township, and village high schools. The largest was in a county 
seat, a number were several miles from a railroad, and a few 
were some distance from the nearest village. The agricultural 
courses in these schools were partly of the half-year type, partly 
of one year, and in four cases were planned for the entire 
four years, though not always in full operation. In most cases 
there was opportunity to see the classes, and to inspect their 
work and the school equipment. There was also some slight 
opportunity to learn the sentiment of the community. 

High Schools Teaching Agriculture One Year or Less 

Very early on this itinerary a group of schools was observed 
whose work in agriculture was similar principally in being car- 
ried on for but half the year. In two schools the agricultural 
work was taken up during the winter of the second year, pre- 
ceded by a study of the plant, recognized as a part of the 
more formal botany, and followed by a few weeks spent in 
identifying spring flowers. In one school the same plan was 
followed in the third year. In another the agriculture of the 
last half of the first year was preceded by physical geography, 
while still another school placed it in the first half of the same 
year with physical geography following. Under the prevailing 
arrangement one might suspect that there was not the amount 
of outdoor work that might have been done had the course 
extended through- the entire year. The various forms of home 
work will be noted under the treatment of the respective schools. 

42 



Some Typical High Schools Teaching Agriculture 43 

The schools described of this group were visited consecutively, 
though not in the exact order in which they are described, and 
before any of the other schools, except the one at Waterford, 
Pa. The work first described is in the schools of three villages 
in central and western Ohio, and of one in southern Michigan, 
having a population of 1,000 or less. The next three schools 
treated are distinctly rural high schools, two in southwestern 
Ohio, and one in the northwestern part of the state, with ap- 
proximately the same sized constituencies as the village schools. 
The last two schools discussed are in larger villages of about 
3,000, one in northern Michigan, and one in western Iowa. 

Grove City (Ohio) High School 

The first place visited in the state was Grove City, Franklin 
County. It is a typical Ohio village about 20 miles south of 
Columbus. It is essentially rural in character, with no impor- 
tant manufacturing industry, and has a population of about 
1,000. The total enrollment of the school was 55, one-half 
of whom came from farm homes. The class in agriculture 
numbered 33, with about the same proportion of farmers' chil- 
dren. Only a few of the high-school pupils teach school after 
leaving. One or two of the senior class of three expected to 
attend college. There were two high-school teachers besides 
the superintendent, who devoted about one-half of his time to 
the grades. 

The instructor used no text but worked by the topical method, 
following a recently published text of distinctly high-school 
grade as a guide, and assigning references in the bulletins with 
which the school was abundantly supplied. The bulletins most 
used were those relating to special plants studied in the work, 
such as cabbages, pansies, and tomatoes. In this school, the 
first half year's work was devoted to physical geography, and 
the last half to agriculture. No special attempt was made to 
introduce agricultural topics into the geography work. As yet 
most of the experimental work that has been tried, both in 
agriculture and in botany, which comes the second year, has 
been carried on out of class and at home. 

A feature giving excellent results has been the excursions 



44 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

made by teacher and class. Each trip was made the basis of 
the next recitation. The students were also held responsible 
on the monthly review for the knowledge gained on these trips 
and in the subsequent discussions. In this way the trips were 
kept from degenerating into picnics. 

A visit was made to an orchard that was just being set out, 
where the members of the class planted some of the trees. As 
the instructor did not profess to be an expert in the nursery 
business, the attitude of both teacher and pupils was that of 
learning together. Another visit was made to an orchard of a 
successful plum grower, where observations were made on his 
methods of caring for the ground, the distance at which he 
planted his trees, and other details. It was noted, for instance, 
that he had some trees planted but ten feet apart, which were 
not thriving so well as were the others. The only class work 
done in grafting has been in the nature of exemplification with 
sticks having the bark on and not with real roots and scions, 
and without reference to the proper season. The following 
is a brief account of the planting done at home, and is here 
given, not because of any variety of startling features, but as 
an example of the possibilities. 

The class was consulted as to the materials to be used. The 
girls wished mostly to try pansies. Many of the boys and some 
of the girls wished to work with tomatoes, others preferred 
cabbages. They got the seeds and all started the work together 
about the middle of March, and brought their plants to school 
for an exhibit during the week of May 4th to 8th. The in- 
structor indicated for the benefit of the class what plants he 
considered to be the " winners." All students made oral reports, 
those having poor success as well as the others. The work in 
English was in the hands of the high-school assistant and no 
attempt was made to correlate it with the agriculture. The 
pupils were required to read the bulletins and other available 
literature before starting the seeds to germinating, so as to 
inform themselves on the conditions of soil, shade, moisture, 
temperature, and other factors. The class had studied the 
general topic of soils before starting this germination. One boy 
made the mistake of planting the seeds of all these varieties 



Some Typical High Schools Teaching Agriculture 45 

in one box and found, of course, that all did not do equally 
well, as they required different treatment, a fact that was very 
apparent in the exhibition. The pansies fared the worst, suf- 
fering from the amount of sunlight given the others. This 
served as a " control " experiment, although the instructor had 
made no provision for one. A garden trowel was given as a 
prize to the winner of this competition. 

The class also took up the subject of bees and read John 
Burroughs' " Birds, Bees, and Sharp Eyes." The instructor, 
who had had some experience with bees, brought a hive to 
school. The boys took measurements from it and made hives 
at home. This was not, however, a part of the manual train- 
ing that was carried on as school work, although the principal 
said that the construction of bee-hives during the winter might 
well have been assigned as one of the pieces required. He 
instructed the pupils how to get bees. He told how he had 
caught two wild swarms the previous summer, and suggested 
that probably they could persuade a beeman to give them a 
late swarm to nurse over the winter. Bee culture bulletins were 
then assigned for study. 

One boy took as a special topic the treatment of potatoes for 
scab. Having no ground of his own, he received permission 
to experiment on a plat about to be planted by a neighbor who 
had been rather unsuccessful with his potatoes. The result of 
the experiment convinced the owner of the efficacy of the treat- 
ment. There was, however, no control experiment that I could 
learn of. Another boy so convinced his neighbors of the benefit 
of spraying potatoes that they joined together to buy a good 
sprayer. 

The instructor instituted an agricultural club that met through 
the following summer, and reported a very successful series of 
meetings. Each member agreed to experiment on some crop 
and report the results. The instructor also gave each member 
a dozen strawberry plants for trial. 

New Holland (Ohio) High School 
The environment and influence at New Holland, in Pickaway 
County, are, in many respects, similar to those in the village 



46 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

just described. The places are of about the same size but the 
latter had by far the more modern plant. Although the New 
Holland school is in a special district of six square miles, the 
enrollment in the high school was somewhat smaller, being 
forty, and the percentage of pupils from farm homes was rather 
less than half the percentage at Grove City. In each case the 
teaching force consisted of two instructors in addition to the 
superintendent. 

The community is engaged in general farming and ships 
nearly all the produce. Comparatively little live stock is raised, 
but the land is kept in condition by a three or four-year crop 
rotation including clover. A canning factory offers induce- 
ments to the farmers to raise sweet corn, tomatoes, lima beans, 
peas, etc., for canning. 

The smaller size of the agricultural class at New Holland, 
numbering ten, was due to the fact that the study was taught 
in the third year instead of the first. It is preceded by sixteen 
weeks of botany in the fall. The subject is taught by the super- 
intendent, who has shown a great deal of interest in it. He 
has made a collection of bulletins larger than is usually found 
in schools devoting more time to the subject, and has worked 
out a complete and handy system of filing, and has had the 
pamphlets carefully card-catalogued by the students. He has 
also issued a topical index of the bulletins of the state experi- 
ment station and of the college of agriculture. Corn growing 
being a very important industry, considerable attention is paid 
to testing the viability of the seed. About forty ears were tested 
besides considerable shelled corn. The ears came in lots of 
from one to three each. All tests were on corn actually to be 
used for seed. 

On Arbor Day the class planted an apple tree which the 
members had top-grafted after preparing their own grafting 
wax and cloth binding-strips. The tree had been grafted in 
the winter with apple and quince scions, and had been kept in 
the cool cellar until Arbor Day. Four other small trees, apple, 
cherry, plum, and quince, with plenty of superfluous branches, 
were brought in and trimmed up as part of the Arbor Day 



Some Typical High Schools Teaching Agriculture 47 

exercises, according to directions for pruning in the Farmers' 
Bulletin on this topic, after which the trees were thrown away. 
The exercises followed the program sent out by School Com- 
missioner Jones. Although no class work has been done on 
spraying trees or treating seeds, one boy has informed himself 
on the subject and has done considerable of it. Samples of 
fertilizers were obtained from the local agents of seedmen. 
Some of these were in neat cases of cloth-covered paste-board. 
The formulas were studied by the class, although no chemistry 
was given in the school outside of demonstrations before the 
class in physiology. 

The school arranged a series of public lectures on agricultural 
and nature-study subjects by professors of the State University 
and others. This school then held the trophy offered by the 
College of Agriculture of the State University for the best 
exhibit of seed corn. This trophy is offered to students under 
eighteen years of age in high schools teaching agriculture. The 
names of all winners are engraved on the cup. 

West Milton (Ohio) High School 
While West Milton, in Miami County, differs little in popu- 
lation from the two villages already mentioned, its high school 
enrollment was considerably larger, being 80, of whom 40 were 
from farm homes, and almost all from homes where gardens 
are made. The high-school instruction was carried on by three 
teachers, agriculture being taught by the superintendent, who 
was himself reared on a farm and now owns one. His aim 
has been to make the course a sort of general introductory 
science course. The compound microscopes and stereopticon are 
used in this course as well as in the botany, which is closely 
linked with it. Many specimens were brought into class to 
illustrate scale, blight, and other fruit-tree diseases to which 
the instructor has given considerable attention, but no spraying 
was tried. Visits were also made to stock farms. The attitude 
of the community is well shown by the fact that 52 of the 53 
first and second year students selected agriculture in place of 
English history, which it was supposed the girls would choose. 



48 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Scliools 

Six were later persuaded to enter the history class. Over half 
of these 46 were children of parents living on farms or owning 
them. 

South Lyon {Mich.) High School 

At this point may be given an account of the work at South 
Lyon, Mich., a village in the southern part of the state, with 
but a few hundred more inhabitants than the Ohio villages 
already described, and similar to them in many ways. Stock 
raising, dairying, and trucking are the principal industries be- 
sides general farming. The village had a rather large " retired 
farmer " element, without representation in the public schools, 
who opposed attempts to better the rather antiquated and 
utterly inadequate school facilities. In contrast to this was the 
progressive body of younger farmers who were favorable to the 
agricultural instruction and whose children composed the 55 
per cent non-resident portion of the high school. Most of the 
remainder of the seventy pupils enrolled were closely identified 
with agricultural interests. The majority of the sixteen mem- 
bers of the agricultural class were girls of the third year. 
Nearly all of the twelve agricultural students the previous year 
were boys. Several of these were planning to attend the Michi- 
gan Agricultural College on graduation. One boy living in 
town expressed himself as having been " converted to the pro- 
fession " through his interest in the work of the class. There 
was little " elimination " apparent. The second year class has 
usually been larger than the first, and all of the entering class 
of two years before were still in school. The tuition charge 
of $12 represents approximately the per capita cost of instruc- 
tion. The agricultural work was in charge of the superintendent, 
who was also principal of the high school. He very wisely 
did not allow the school machinery to interfere with the effec- 
tiveness of his work, and took part of a day for field work 
whenever it seemed worth while. Visits were made to a cream- 
ery, an agricultural implement store, and to stock farms, a very 
good one being within a mile of the school. The instructor's 
teaching methods in science and mathematics seemed better 
than those one is likely to find in most small high schools. In 



Some Typical High Schools Teaching Agriculture 49 

botany the plant analysis had been reduced to fifteen plants 
and emphasis was laid upon the reasons for plant and flower 
structures and upon their possible origins. The botany class 
had examined the actual grafting done on the tree by the agricul- 
tural class, and did " sample " grafting in the class room similar 
to that done at Grove City, O. The previous year each member 
of the class made two grafts on an old apple tree in the school 
yard, bringing their own scions. The reason given for the 
current class not doing this work was that the members were 
mostly girls ! The class of the year before had also made an 
extensive test of corn, each student testing five ears to be used 
on his own place. Most farmers of this vicinity select their 
seed from the field; but few take it from the crib. One or 
two samples of the latter kind showed very poorly in the test, 
and formed a good check or control on the other lots. The 
soil experiments were given as a part of the agriculture and 
not of the physical geography, which came later. The extensive 
truck gardening for the Detroit market and the varied morainic 
topography of the region make the study of soils and drainage 
a very important one. An interview with some ditch diggers 
near the town suggested some very interesting problems along 
this line. The superintendent made field trips, and work with 
the Geological Survey sheets constitutes an important part of 
this work. 

Twice a week the class in agriculture debated some topic, 
going to bulletins and to farmers as well for their arguments, 
and giving the authorities quoted. It is often girls against boys, 
with more girls than boys in order to overcome any handicap 
caused by the superior general information the boys might have. 
These debates were not a feature of the regular work in Eng- 
lish, which was in charge of another instructor. Many of the 
farmers quoted by the debaters are of superior intelligence, 
several being graduates of the Michigan Agricultural College. 
A number of these have given lectures before the school, and 
have also taken great pains to indicate the " points " in the live 
stock inspected and to pass judgment on the scoring done by 
the pupils. 



50 Agricultural Insiructiort in the Public High Schools 

Wayne Township High School, Lee's Creek, Ohio 

The Wayne Township centralized school, in Clinton County, 
Ohio, is a good example of another type of schools. It differs 
from those already described in being several miles from the 
nearest railroad and incorporated village. Although the nearby 
hamlet of Lee's Creek numbers scarcely more than 200 inhabi- 
tants, the school serves a township with an area of 36 square 
miles and a population of 1,200. Naturally all of the 27 pupils 
of the high-school department were from farm homes. The 
agriculture is taught in alternate years, the last class numbering 
12. Eighteen weeks, of 200 minutes each, were given the sub- 
ject, extending over the entire year. It is a second-year study, 
preceded by a half-year each of physical geography and botany. 
The text used is one of the popular books written for the ele- 
mentary grades. The superintendent found that it proved too 
easy, as the boys already knew most that it contained. The 
bulletins on corn and on weeds, issued by the state experiment 
station, were the ones most used as references. Agriculture 
was placed in the course because of the unanimous demand made 
by the patrons. The spirit of the community is well illustrated 
by the question of one of the most conservative of the farmers, 
himself at first opposed to consolidation, who asked the super- 
intendent why the school did not try to be up-to-date and intro- 
duce domestic science. Plans are being definitely made for this 
and for manual training as well. The basement is large and 
airy, and well adapted for such work. One part of it, not 
occupied by the heating plant, was used as a lunch room and 
physical laboratory. The building was erected three years ago 
at a cost, including equipment, of $17,500, and has a complete 
water, lighting, and heating system. Professor Graham pro- 
nounces it the finest centralized school building in the state. 

General farming and stock raising form the principal industry. 
There is little dairying or gardening. The farmers feed all 
they ^aise. One makes the boast that he has never sold a 
dollar's worth of grain from his place. Of course these condi- 
tions largely determine the nature of the class work. The most 
important feature of the experimental work was that done at 



Some Typical High Schools Teaching Agriculture 51 

home, especially with corn. The students had the advantage 
of being able to observe the ten-acre plat of a local seed-corn 
breeder, and to note his method of detasseling the stalks. Much 
rivalry arose in a boys' corn contest, in which one of the boys 
managed to excel the exhibits of this gentleman's son, according 
to the judgment of the class and the agriculturist present from 
Washington. Ordinary seed was used the first }^ear the experi- 
ment was tried, while the second year the seed used was from 
ears selected from the boys' own plats and tested before plant- 
ing. As many as fifty or seventy-five ears were tested, and 
from one to a dozen ears in a lot were brought to school for 
the trial. Corn testing is generally practiced by the farmers 
of the district, due quite largely, the superintendent thinks, to 
the influence of the school work. Owing to a bad season three 
years ago, it was necessary to test the seed in order to be 
sure of a stand. One year the boys planted seed sent out from 
the State University, which did not yield as well as the home 
grown seed planted by their fathers. The fathers in this case 
were able to use the failure to point the lesson that home grown 
seed is better than that shipped in, especially from a different 
latitude, as this was, having been raised fifty miles northeast. 
The general plan followed by the boys was to plant 288 hills, 
enough for two shocks, in the corner of the father's field, and 
to leave the two outside rows uncultivated. As there was much 
rain early in the season, the boys reported a marked difference 
in the growth under the two kinds of treatment. This fur- 
nished the application of the principle of capillarity that had 
been studied experimentally in the laboratory. The test of the 
corn growing experiment seems to have been entirely qualita- 
tive, as measured by the selected ears ; whereas it might have 
been measured quantitatively, either absolutely or comparatively, 
by weighing the yield and computing from that the rate per 
acre. 

About twenty-five experiments in all were performed to illus- 
trate osmosis, capillarity, etc. Some of the simpler chemical 
phenomena were demonstrated by the students, and others by 
the instructor. The school did not then possess even the modest 
apparatus it has since acquired. Fifty dollars a year is being 



52 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

appropriated for science equipment. There are two teachers 
in the high-school department besides the superintendent, who 
gives it about half his time. 

Beaver Creek Township High School, Alpha, Ohio 

The Beaver Creek Township High School, at Alpha, Greene 
County, differs from the one just described, in existing separately 
from the graded schools, which are but partially consolidated. 
This accounts for the fact that the pupils are not transported 
in wagons as in Wayne Township, but drive their own horses. 
The thirty animals used are housed in comfortable stables, built 
on one corner of the school grounds at a cost of $i,ooo. In 
the high school building provision is made for home economics 
and manual training in the basement. The equipment of the 
latter consists of twenty benches and tools. There is no in- 
debtedness nor will there be any for the addition that may 
have to be built to accommodate the manual training. The 
present school levy is six mills on a valuation of $1,800,000. 

The campus consists of five acres or more of partially cleared 
forest with a few apple trees. The high school is of eighteen 
years' standing. The teaching staff consists of two teachers 
besides the superintendent, who gives half his time to the ele- 
mentary schools. The 52 pupils are practically all from farm 
homes, as there are but two small hamlets of a hundred or less 
each in the township. The agricultural class numbered nine. 
The succeeding class was expected to enroll about 20 students. 
While the class of the current year had all of the botany except 
plant analysis in the fall, the next class is to take up the agri- 
culture in the first half of the second year. It will be preceded 
as heretofore by a half-year of physical geography in the first 
year. None of this work is elective. 

Most of the experiments in the text were performed, many 
by the pupils individually. The text used is one of the more 
recent ones of distinctly high-school grade. The pupils went 
into the fields and selected the corn to be used for testing. The 
corn was judged on score cards ruled by the pupils for the 
purpose. This work was not competitive. Individual study 
was made of the vitality of seeds, using corn, oats, wheat, etc. 



Some Typical High Schools Teaching Agriculture 53 

The school possessed a supply of seeds four years old kept 
to show the influence of age. Each student was assigned one 
insect and one bird to investigate thoroughly from the litera- 
ture and from field observations, and was required to hand in 
his report at the end of the year. There were no school gardens, 
or home gardens under school supervision or direction. The 
children from the hamlets seem to take more interest in the 
work than those from the farms. 

The principal interest of the community centers around rais- 
ing cattle, hogs, and sheep. Shorthorns are the favorite cattle. 
There are no dairy herds in the strict sense, although many 
farmers have from five to ten milch cows and ship the milk 
to Dayton by the traction line. Very few of the graduates of 
the high school teach after leaving, at least not in the town- 
ship; for none are employed without a year of normal training. 
From $45 to $65 a month is paid in the elementary grades, 
which attracts teachers with the necessary training from the 
nearby city. 

Riley Township High School, Pandora, Ohio 

The schools of Riley Township and Pandora, in Putnam 
County, exist by virtue of legal provisions enabling villages and 
townships to maintain jointly a system of high and elementary 
schools. In this case neither township nor village could well 
support a high school alone, as the population of the entire 
district is only 800. One hundred were enrolled in the high 
school, two-thirds from farm homes. The agricultural class 
numbered 35, 20 boys and 15 girls, and was taught by the 
superintendent. He had a man for principal of the high school 
department and a lady assistant. Agriculture was followed by 
physical geography in the first year, each continuing half the 
year. Botany was placed in the second year. 

The school is in a rich agricultural country. Corn is the 
principal crop. Most of the field produce is fed to cattle and 
hogs. There is considerable dairying, the milk being taken by 
a creamery. This of course has a milk tester, but the school 
has none. All the corn testing was done at home by the boys 
of the class. They tested all the seed to be used on their farms 



54 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

the following spring. One had 54 ears, or about half a bushel. 
Five kernels from each ear were tested. Of the 270 kernels, 
260 germinated, making over 96 per cent. Another tested 100 
ears, getting a result of 95 per cent. He rejected 2 ears but 
did not enter the percentage of those ears in his record. A 
third tested 49 ears. Some of the reports that were inspected 
showed great care and a truly scientific attitude toward the 
work. 

The girls were supposed to do a little work in plant propaga- 
tion with geranium slips. Owing to the clumsy work done by 
the girls individually in previous years, the instructor was doing 
most of the work for the members of the class. Considerable 
work had been done with insects. Samples of scale were brought 
in. Various insects that had been collected were displayed in 
glass mounts made by the janitor. These were glass boxes 3 
by 5 inches, with glass tops and bottoms spaced }i inch apart, 
and separated by four wooden sides and corners. 

It may not be amiss to speak here of certain points that could 
not well be noted under the individual schools. These seven 
schools are in communities of nearly the same population and 
having very similar interests. None of the schools enrolls more 
than 100 pupils. The teaching force ranges from two to three 
instructors, including the superintendent, who must give some 
time to the supervision of grade work. The instructors in 
agriculture with one exception are men under middle age. Xor 
does age in the one case seem to have any inhibitive effect on 
enthusiasm or a progressive spirit, for this gentleman has at- 
tended several summer sessions at the University of Chicago 
and has since earned his degree. But two of the seven held 
degrees from colleges requiring four years for graduation. The 
college work of the other five ranged from two years or less 
to three and one-half years. One of these was a normal school 
graduate. Several had been pursuing summer courses and 
were planning to continue them. Two of the seven grew up 
on farms. Another, whose father moved to town in the future 
superintendent's early boyhood " to give the boys a chance," 
has since acquired considerable practical experience in farm 
management. In all cases there seemed to be essential agree- 



Some Typical High Schools Teaching Agriculture 55 

ment between authorities and patrons as to the desirability of 
having agricultural work in the curriculum, and agreement 
among the superintendents as to its educational value as com- 
pared with other subjects they were teaching. Many will be 
willing to admit that the judgment of men of some experience 
in teaching unrelated subjects may be of value on this point, 
perhaps equal to that of specialists. For the latter, even with 
their more thorough scholarship in restricted lines (and perhaps 
on account of it), must often form their judgments on a priori 
grounds or from a one-sided experience. 

St. Louis (Mich.) High School 

St. Louis, Michigan, a village of 3,000 inhabitants, is in 
Gratiot County, in the north central part of the state. The 
high-school enrollment is between 70 and 80. The superin- 
tendent teaches the class in agriculture and botany, numbering 
between 25 and 30. This work is in the second year and is 
followed by zoology in the third year and chemistry in the fourth. 
The printed course of study calls for a one-year course in 
" orchard, garden, and field crops," to follow the elementary 
course just mentioned, but the superintendent had not yet put 
it into operation as he wished the second-year course to be 
placed on a firmer basis. In such a course certain topics would 
be expanded that are now treated only briefly in the elementary 
course. While the work is required in only one course leading 
to graduation, called the agricultural course, it has been elected 
for several years by a large number of pupils not in this course. 

The school has a good equipment for its size, including two 
compound and thirty-five dissecting microscopes, and an amount 
of chemical apparatus sufficient for individual work by the 
small class. The science classes have ample room at their dis- 
posal. Many of the usual indoor experiments are carried on 
with home-made apparatus. 

Some dairying is carried on in the neighborhood, and the 
class had visited a creamery, although no work in milk testing 
had been attempted. The class was taken to a diseased peach 
orchard, where the students pruned and trimmed out the dis- 
eased and dead limbs of all the trees except one, which was 



56 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

left as a " control." The class was told that the untreated tree 
would probably infect the nearest trees. Orchards in the county 
are threatened with extinction from insect pests, according to 
the superintendent, with, as he tersely expressed it, " a cat to 
every bird." The curculio and other injurious insects are dis- 
cussed and identified, and talks are given on the appropriate 
method of treatment for each. 

Demonstrations of the different methods of grafting were 
made in school, after which each student at the proper season 
grafted a limb on a tree at home. At the close of the school 
year, the limb was sawed off and brought to school as part of 
the record of the year's work. Many seeds were tested but 
not corn, except in the general experiments, such as those show- 
ing the effect of drainage in tin cans and others of like nature. 

One of the most important local industries is sugar beet culture 
and the manufacture of the sugar. Notwithstanding the fact 
that the beet is preeminently the " money-maker " of the region, 
not more than one acre in ten or twelve is devoted to its culture. 
In line with this industry, beet-sugar analysis is a prominent 
feature of the year's work in chemistry. The students are 
taught the practical use of the polariscope. Several young men 
with no other preparation than this have taken positions as 
assistant chemists in the local plants at a better salary than is 
usually commanded in village positions. The class as a whole, 
so far as learned, had not visited the sugar factories, but most 
of the students had done so individually. 

A majority of the board and many of the patrons favor the 
further development of the agricultural line of instruction. It 
is significant that so many adults bought copies of the school 
text-book that the students were not able to supply themselves 
until the bookstores had received a second and third supply. 

Sac City (Iowa) High School 

The constituency and enrollment of the high school at Sac 
City, Iowa, is somewhat larger than those already described. 
The work in agriculture has been conducted along different lines 
and presents many points of interest. The population of the 
town is approximately 2,800, and of the district, 3,600. The 



Some Typical High Schools Teaching Agriculture 57 

district, which is 4 miles square, lies mostly in one township 
but extends into three others. About 20 per cent of the enroll- 
ment of 136 comes from the country homes, and about half 
of the 34 or 35 country children elect agriculture. This work 
has been carried on for six years. During the first year 28 
boys and 30 girls took up the study and 56 finished the course. 
Fifty were in the class the second year and 52 the third. The 
lowest number registering for agriculture in any one year was 
30. The study is an extra elective and does not find a place 
in the program of the regular school day but is counted toward 
graduation. The recitations run through the winter months 
while the practical work may continue to the end of the year. 
Students are enrolled from all years of the high school, while 
recently a few capable boys of the seventh and eighth grades 
were allowed to enter the class. They were competent to make 
the observations, report on home experiments, and could follow 
the botanical but not the chemical part of the work. Seniors 
and juniors predominated in the earlier years, but recently the 
major part of the class has been from grades below the junior 
year. 

Though another man has charge of the other science work, 
agriculture is taught by the superintendent. He became inter- 
ested in the scientific study of agriculture because he owned a 
farm worth $110 an acre that was not yielding an adequate return 
on that capitalization. For his own guidance he uses King's 
" Physics of Agriculture " and his book on " The Soil," and 
Osterhout's " Experiments with Plants." The students have 
no text, but use Office of Experiment Stations Bulletin 186, 
" Plant Production," by Crosby, and refer to other bulletins. 
The school subscribes for two farm journals. 

While raising corn and feeding stock is the chief industry 
of the community, dairying also holds a place of importance. 
Sac County and Ida County adjoining it are said to raise one- 
third of the world's supply of popcorn, the annual yield being 
valued at from $35 to $60 per acre. The community has shown 
a great interest in the agriculture taught in the school. It has 
enlivened the interest in the farmers' institutes, and has caused 
the general adoption among the farmers of the practice of 



58 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

selecting and testing seed-corn and of measuring the milk product 
of the dairy herds. 

The school possesses two Babcock testers, each of four bot- 
tles capacity. One is without a shell and the other is of the 
covered type but runs very hard. Milk was first studied the 
second winter the course was given. Different classes have 
tested the milk of no less than 200 cows, distributed probably 
among 40 or 50 herds. The farmers finally brought in more 
samples of milk than the class had time to handle, especially 
after the class had published a report on work done with a 
cow belonging to one of the patrons. He weighed the milk 
one day, estimated the total product as closely as possible to 
fit the approximate period of lactation, and had the class test 
samples of the milk. The result was later published in the 
local press. Then a ten-year-old son of the Methodist minister 
bought a cow for $45. This animal was used as a miniature 
experiment station for the class during the year. The class 
figured out the rations to be fed. The boy kept all the data 
for the use of the class, such as rent of pasture and stable, 
cost of feed and labor, and receipts from the sale of milk. The 
milking period was estimated at 300 days The milk was weighed 
and tested. The amount of butter product was calculated at 
the rate of seven-eighth of a pound of butter-fat to a pound 
of butter. The cost of the feed for the year was calculated, 
and the profit was then computed from this data. Later several 
farmers bought testers. The brown Swiss is the favorite dairy 
breed in this section. Most of the farmers now breed their 
own dairy cattle. Breeds have not been studied as such by 
the class nor have attempts been made at judging stock, although 
the various parts of the animal carcass have been studied from 
charts. 

The use of a piece of land at the edge of town was secured 
for the class the first year, so that every member had a plat, 
but the results were interfered with by outsiders disturbing the 
beds. Nevertheless the children brought in quite complete re- 
ports the following autumn. Many of those living in the country 
who had to come some distance took better care of their plats 
than did others living near by. Since then the village children 



Some Typical High Schools Teaching Agriculture 59 

have had plats at home in which they grow the usual garden 
vegetables, while the country children mostly put their plats 
into seed corn. The village children use their own taste largely 
and put in early garden truck and potatoes. Much of the work 
is experimental, testing different methods. Thus with potatoes, 
certain students divided their plats into four parts. In one 
part were planted quarters of the potato using the seed end, 
in another part quarters from the stem end, in both cases from 
potatoes that had been exposed to the sun for about four days ; 
while in the third and fourth parts were planted the quarters 
from potatoes just taken out of the dark cellar bin. The results 
were carefully written up showing the yield of large and medium 
potatoes, and the unmarketable part of the crop. One girl 
tried the experiment of raising two crops of potatoes, using 
an early variety. She succeeded in getting tubers from the 
second crop weighing from four to six ounces. 

The boys from the farms have directed most of their efforts 
toward breeding corn, bringing in notes of their work in the 
fall the same as the village children. Their corn has been judged 
by a representative from the Iowa State Agricultural College, 
at Ames. An experiment in selecting and breeding was started 
in 1904 by two brothers who were then seniors, which has since 
been continued after they went to college by a younger brother 
in the high school. As a result of the experiment, they have 
produced a perfectly tipped ear, even to the one central tip 
kernel. They concluded, however, that it did not pay, as the 
process has " pinched the ears shorter." They had kept the ears 
of previous years for comparison. These two brothers had 
become so interested in scientific agriculture that they decided 
to go to the college at Ames and fit themselves to become farm 
superintendents. Other influences diverted them to a denomina- 
tional school, where they have just graduated. Most of the 
graduates from the high school go to sectarian colleges and 
very few to the agricultural college. The superintendent believes 
that five of the last senior class of twenty would not have entered 
high school from the rural schools but for the favorable im- 
pression made upon their fathers by the work in agriculture. 



6o Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

High Schools Teaching Agriculture Three of Four Years 

This section is devoted to the description of the work of 
four schools in which the course in agriculture is planned to 
extend through the last three years of the course or through 
the entire four years, and in which the curriculum is well under 
way. The school in the town of Petersham, Alass., and also 
the John Swaney School of Magnolia Township in Putnam 
County, Illinois,^ had been in existence two years at the time 
this study was made, and minister to districts distinctly rural. 
The school at Waterford,^ Pa., is maintained jointly by the 
borough and township and has a history of almost a century. 
Its agricultural department was established in 1904. The 
Guthrie County High School, at Panora, Iowa, is thirty years 
old and has been offering courses in agriculture for several 
years, long enough to have all scheduled courses in full operation. 

One sees then that these schools, widely distributed as they 
are, may appropriately be taken to represent the most progressive 
efforts to work out through the high school this important prob- 
lem in districts widely separate and different in their interests. 

Petersham (Mass.) High School 

The Town of Petersham has a population of about 900. The 
high-school enrollment was 18 the first year and 37 the second. 
Forty-five is the estimate made for the third year's enrollment. 
The courses leading to graduation are the college preparatory, 
the academic, and a short course of three years. Agriculture 
or domestic science and floriculture are required in all years of 
the last two courses, replacing the required Latin of the first 
course. The total number of hours required will be 320 hours 
of agriculture for the boys, and for the girls, 240 hours of 
domestic science and 80 of floriculture. These are in addition 
to the required work in botany, zoology, physiology, physics and 
chemistry. The curriculum is shown on page 63. At present 

* The John Swaney School was visited also by County Superintendent 
O. J. Kern, and the Waterford High School by D. J. Crosby of the U. S. 
Department of Agriculture, whose comments on the schools and the 
class work they saw form part of the report of the standing committee 
of the National Education Association on Industrial Education in 
Schools for Rural Communities, for 1908. 



Some Typical High Schools Teaching Agriculture 6i 

the work of instruction in agriculture is carried on by the prin- 
cipal, who also has charge of the discipline of the elementary 
grades, a lady assistant who gives all her time to the high school, 
and a grade teacher who handles the domestic science. The 
classes were combined so that studies not consecutive are taught 
only on alternate years. The principal at the time the school 
was visited, Mr. Edw. H. Scott, B. S., is a graduate of the 
agricultural college at Amherst, and of the Worcester high 
school, where he received his instruction in manual training. 
Of the five graduates the second year, the two boys planned to 
go to the agricultural college, two of the girls to normal school, 
while the third girl expected to take care of a home of her own. 

The handsome stone and brick school building was the gift 
of James W. Brooks. The campus of eight acres furnishes the 
ground for recreation and sports, as well as for the practical 
work in agriculture. Already half an acre has been given over 
to gardening purposes, and a small orchard has been set out. 
Owing to certain opposition the work started out the first year 
under the guise of geology, and included an elementary study 
of soils and soil physics, a scheme that the rocky condition of 
New England soil made plausible enough. Later in the year 
plant propagation was taken up with practical work. At this 
time the " greenhouse " was a modest glass lean-to built against 
a barn across the street. Then a systematic course was carried 
on for some weeks on the study of potatoes, pruning, grafting, 
and budding. The pruning was done on a lot of trees already 
growing on the campus. The grafting was in the way of 
demonstration. During the second year, the course included 
a study of fertilizers in class, with testing, greenhouse culture 
of lettuce, and cucumbers, the growth of plants for setting out, 
and floriculture. 

This work was made possible by the erection during the pre- 
vious summer of a greenhouse just south of the school and 
connecting with it through the basement. The house is i8 by 30 
feet, with a stone substructure, and with an independent heating 
plant. Had it been necessary to pay for the labor and material, 
the cost would probably have been between $800 and $1,000. 
The cucumbers were started in April, and began to produce by 



62 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

June I. They found a ready market at 5 cents apiece. The 
blossoms were pollenized by a hive of bees, which was placed 
outside and close to an opening in the greenhouse. The young 
tomato plants were sorted into three groups according to stocki- 
ness and apparent hardiness, and notes were made by the class 
on the difference in their ability to withstand the transplanting, 
which was very marked. An exhibit of vegetables and flowers 
raised in the greenhouse was held late in the spring. Some 
of the boys conducted an experiment in treating for scab the 
potatoes used for seed by a blacksmith of the village. The 
effect was so marked that the experiment gained considerable 
local fame and gave the agricultural work an immediate stand- 
ing in the community. It was the first thing told the principal 
on his return the succeeding fall. Most of the soil experiments 
have been conducted in the greenhouse. The school has a six- 
bottle Babcock milk tester of the covered type. 

The elementary physics in the first year is a prerequisite for 
all other science work. It is purely demonstrational, of the 
" phenomena " type, and presented with a somewhat limited set 
of apparatus, which serves, however, to illustrate most of the 
commonly used principles of physics. The seniors and juniors 
formed a class in chemistry running through two terms, and 
followed by botany in the spring term. The instruction in 
chemistry was of the same nature as in the physics, except the 
individual work done by two post-graduate students who per- 
formed individual experiments at the demonstration table. The 
class in bookkeeping used Masury's text with problems dealing 
largely with the things that make up the bulk of farm accounts, 
and not with the merchandise common to most texts in the 
subject. 

The community is engaged in dairying, raising hay and oats 
for feed, and to some extent in the cultivation of potatoes and 
corn " by hand." Probably from three to four acres out of five 
are in timber or in " sprout lots," that is, young timber coming 
up on cut-over land. Half of the remainder is under actual 
cultivation and the other half is in blue grass or " herd grass " 
(timothy). Gardening under glass is carried on to a large 
extent a few miles north of Petersham. 



Some Typical High Schools Teaching Agriculture 63 



CURRICULUM OF THE PETERSHAM HIGH SCHOOL 

[a, b, and c, placed after a subject, indicates first, second, and third term, respectively.] 



College preparatory course 


Academic course 


Short course 


Subjects 


Hours 
per 
week 


Subjects 


Hours 

per 

week 


Subjects 


Hours 
per 
week 



Algebra 

English 

Ancient history 

Elementary physics . 
Spelling 5 
Drawing 2 
Music 2 

Rhetoricals 1 

Latin 

Total 

Geometry 

Elementary chemis- 

„ try 

Spelling, music, etc . 
English (a) 
English history (b, c) 
French or German.. . 
Latin 



Total 

English 

Spelling, etc 

French or German 
Biology (o) 

Botany (6, c) 

Physiology (a) 

Physics (6, c) 

Latin 



Total 

English 

French or German . 

Spelling, etc 

English (college 

requirements) . . . 

Latin. 

Chemistry (a) 
Mathematical 

reviews (6, c) . . . . 

Total 



19 



21 



18 



20 



First Year 

Algebra 

English 

Ancient history 

Elementary physics. 

Book-keeping 

Spelling 5 

Drawing 2 
Music 2 

Rhetoricals 1 

Agriculture 2 (boys) 
Domestic 

science 1 (girls) 

Total 

Second Year 

Geometry 

Elementary chemis- 
try 

Spelling, music, etc. 

English (a) 

English history (6, c) 

French or German. . 

Manual training. . . . 

Agriculture 2 (boys) 

Domestic 

science 1 (girls) 



Total 

Third Year 

English 

Spelling, etc 

French or German . . 
Biology (a) 

Botany (b, c) 

Physiology (a) 

Physics (b, c) 

American history (a) 

Civics (6, c) 

Manual training. . . . 
Agriculture 2 (boys) 
Domestic 

science 1 (girls) 

Total 

Fourth Year 

English 

French or German. . 

Spelling, etc 

Astronomy (a) 
Trigonometry and 
Surveying (6, c) . . . . 
Chemistry (o) 
Zoology (6) 

Geology (c) 

Agriculture (boys) I 
Floriculture (girls) ) 

Total 



3 

2 
19 



20 



20 



Algebra 

English 

Ancient history . . . . 
Elementary physics. 

Book-keeping 

Spelling 5 
Drawing 2 
Music 2 

Rhetoricals 1 

Agriculture 2 (boys) 
Domestic 

science 2 (girls) 

Total 

Geometry 

Elementary chemis- 
try _. 

Spelling, music, etc. 

American history (a) 

Civics (b, c) 

Physiology (a) 

Botany (6, c) 

Manual training. . . . 

Agriculture 2 (boys) 

Domestic 

science 1 

Total 

English 

Spelling, etc 

Chemistry (o) 
Trigonometry and 

Surveying (J), c) . . 
Astronomy (a) 

Zoology (b) 

Geology (c) 
Manual training 
Agriculture 2 (boys) 
Domestic 

science 1 (girls) 



Total. 



3 

2 
19 



18 



19 



64 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

The " Center " claims to be the highest cultivated place in 
the state and has a deeper deposit of boulder till and less rock 
outcrop than most of the hills in the vicinity. Many engage 
in farming in the summer and work during the winter in mills 
not far from the town limits. In a hat factory at North Dana, 
six miles west, a number of women get as high as $20 to $25 
a week, and bright girls often become sufficiently proficient in 
one or two years to make fair wages. One farm was pointed 
out that had just been purchased by a married couple both of 
whom work in the mills in winter. 

Summer residents form no small part of the village popula- 
tion and take an interest in the schools. All the high-school 
pupils of the town and a few non-residents attend here, but two 
or three school districts have not yet consolidated. The country 
children are brought to the building in school wagons. 

John Swancy School, McNabh, III. 

The John Swaney School, in north-central Illinois, furnishes 
a good example of what may be done in an intelligent rural 
community, independent of any urban influences, and working 
for a school adapted to its own peculiar needs. It lies in the 
open country three miles from McNabb the nearest post-office. 
This is merely a country crossroads with two or three stores 
and a station on one of the short coal roads in that mining 
region of the state. The school is on a beautiful campus of 
twenty-four acres presented by one of the patrons and the prin- 
cipal benefactor, Mr. John Swaney. He is a well preserved 
man of eighty-five living a short distance from the school. He 
takes a keen interest in the school and makes frequent visits 
to it. The campus includes land under cultivation and a tract 
of rolling open timber with a large variety of trees, only one 
or two of which were felled to make room for the building. 
On it stands a building used as a district school before the con- 
solidation but now used as a dwelling by the teachers, a grange 
hall, a roomy horse shed, and the new school building. The 
latter is a three-story building, on the second floor of which 
there is an assembly room accommodating 200 or 300 persons 
and one or two recitation rooms. On the first floor are the 



Some Typical High Schools Teaching Agriculture 65 

rooms for the elementary grades, the domestic, natural, and 
physical science laboratories, and the principal's office, while 
in the basement are the lunch and manual training rooms, and 
the heating and gas plants. The latter supplies the laboratories 
and furnishes light. 

The school was opened for work January, 1907. When the 
curriculum is in full operation agriculture will be offered part 
or all of each of the four years, a total of six semesters' work 
in all. 

CURRICULUM OF THE JOHN SWANEY SCHOOL 



First semester 



Second semester 



English I 
Algebra 
Physiology- 
Agronomy I or Latin I 
Household science or manual train 
ing 



English II 
Algebra, 10 weeks 
Geometry, 10 weeks 
Zoology 
Ancient history 
Drawing 



First Year 

English I 
Algebra 

Physical geography 
Horticulture or Latin I 
Household science or manual train- 
ing 



Second Year 



English II 

Geometry 

Botany 

Ancient history, 10 weeks 

Animal husbandry, 10 weeks or 

Household science, 10 weeks 
Music 



Third Year 



English III 
Chemistry 

Agronomy II or Latin II or house- 
hold science 
English history 



English III 
Chemistry 

Animal husbandry or 
household science 
English history 



Latin II or 



Fourth Year 



English IV 

Physics 

Agronomy III or household science 

American history 



English IV 

Physics 

Bookkeeping, 10 weeks 

Arithmetic, 10 weeks 

Civics 



As will be seen from the course of study, two semesters of 
agriculture and two semesters of manual training are required 



66 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

of all the boys, with an option of four semesters of agriculture 
in place of the Latin. The girls are required to take four 
semesters of some phase of household economics, and have an 
option of two more in place of Latin. 

Physiology and physical geography are required in the first 
year of all students, botany and zoology in the second, chem- 
istry in the third, and physics in the fourth, making a total of 
four years of science required besides the agriculture and home 
economics. The laboratory sciences (all except those of the 
first year) have three double periods and two recitation periods 
given them. This is the usual time allotment in most of the 
better high schools in the Central States. The agricultural work 
consists of a semester each of agronomy (I), horticulture (I), 
animal husbandry (II), agronomy (III), animal husbandry 
(III), and agronomy (IV). The Roman numeral indicates the 
year in which it occurs. Latin is offered theoretically in the 
first and third years, allowing the first and second-year pupils 
to be combined in one class. Of the 25 in these first two grades, 
7 take Latin and 18 agronomy and horticulture. The following 
year the then first and second year students were scheduled to 
take ancient history. The current second and third year classes 
were scheduled to take English history in place of the botany 
and zoology, while the elective agronomy and animal husbandry 
will be offered to them. 

For one study the agronomy class picked weed seeds and 
labelled the phials in which they were placed. The pupils had 
practice in sorting out the red clover, alfalfa, and other seeds 
of the clover group, which were mixed, likewise radish and 
rape seeds, timothy and grass seeds. The object of the work 
was to gain an ability to detect adulteration in bought seeds. 
Corn judging and testing was included as a part of the work. 

The class in horticulture planted some trees, and did some 
grafting in an orchard nearby. In response to a question about 
three-fourths of the class stated that they had fruit trees at 
home, and most of them thought their fruit trees had received 
different treatment because of the work done in the class. 

Upon request, the principal gave the following question in 
a written test. " What did you do at home as the result of 



Some Typical High Schools Teaching Agriculture 67 

the work done in horticulture this year ? " Some of the more 
pretentious answers are here given. 

" I have pruned several peach trees and shade trees, and 
have shown the hired men how to cut the limbs on the big 
orchard trees, which were too much for me to do alone. A 
one year peach tree, which I pruned to a whip, is one mass 
of leaves and twigs. The wounds are all healing nicely." 

" I have pruned one peach tree and have watched the marked 
growth of a young soft maple that was headed in severely. It 
has very thick foliage, and some of the growths are from 9 
to 12 inches long. These growths were all made since the middle 
of March." 

" The young orchard now has a cover crop upon it. I have 
also helped make the grafting wax used in budding and grafting ; 
from which good results have been had so far." 

Another reported doing some grafting on his uncle's orchards. 
All four scions on one of two apple trees grafted were doing 
well. After thinning and pruning another small tree that was 
shrubby and worthless, he grafted eight scions of a different 
variety, all of which were growing well. 

One student pruned grapevines, apple, peach, pear, plum, and 
cherry trees at home, and did some spraying. 

One student reported that he gave the grapevines more prun- 
ing than they had before, pruned nearly all the orchard, used a 
spraying machine bought this spring, and " burnt the cut-off 
limbs instead of leaving them in a pile for a breeding place 
for fungus and insects." Bailey's " Principles of Fruit Grow- 
ing " and his " Pruning Book " are the books most used. 

The following references were read as a part of the regular 
work of the class in agronomy : 

Shaw's " Weeds and How to Eradicate Them." 

Farmers' Bulletin 97, Alfalfa Hay for Hogs. 

Farmers' Bulletin 194, Alfalfa Seed. 

Farmers' Bulletin 260, Seed of Red Clover and its Impurities. 

Farmers' Bulletin y^, Kafir Corn. 

Farmers' Bulletin 92, Planting and Replanting Corn. 

Farmers' Bulletin 225, Testing of Seed Oats. 

Farmers' Bulletin 97, The Soy Bean as a Feeding Stuff. 



68 Agricultural Instruction in tJte Public High Schools 

Fanners' Bulletin 105, Spontaneous Combustion of Hay. 

Farmers' Bulletin 144, Rotation of Crops. 

U. S. Dept. Agr., Office of the Secretary, Circular 18, The 
Adulteration of Red Clover Seed. 

Illinois Agr. Expt. Sta. Circular 81, The Potato and the Selec- 
tion of Seed. 

U. S. Dept. Agr. Yearbook, 1901. Agricultural Seeds. 

Topical references on the following subjects were also read 
as a foundation for the work in testing seeds for purity and 
viability : Extent and importance of the trade in agricultural 
seeds ; centers of production ; classes of agricultural seeds ; 
cereals ; corn ; buckwheat ; oats ; rice ; clover and other legumin- 
ous forage plants ; grading and sampling clover seed ; how clover 
seed is bought and sold ; red clover seed ; mammoth, alsike, 
and white clover; crimson clover; red clover and sweet clover; 
alfalfa ; cowpeas and soy beans ; Canada field peas and hairy 
vetch; velvet bean and beggar weed; timothy; meadow fesque; 
orchard grass ; Kentucky blue grass ; red top, and beardless 
brome grass. 

The type of work done in zoology is of interest as showing 
how a pure science may be made to minister to the cause of 
agricultural education. A mere mention of the text and the time 
spent in laboratory work would indicate only that the work 
met the requirements of the better colleges. Some distinctive 
features are shown by the following abstracts of reports taken 
from the note books of several students. The first is a condensed 
account of six field trips written by one of the girls. The others 
are random paragraphs from the reports of other students giving 
in more detail some of the observations made on the same field 
trips. The abstracts have been subjected to the least possible 
editing. 

Zoology Reports 

(i) Field trip, September 4. Purpose was to catch insects 
for study. Insects found were grasshoppers, potato bugs, cater- 
pillar, and a spider. Field trip, September 6. To look for 
insects on trees. Found tent caterpillars and gall flies. Field 
trip, September 9. To watch tent caterpillars work. Also gath- 
ered some insects, as worms on elm leaves, pyramidal gall, sour- 



Some Typical High Schools Teaching Agriculture 69 

bug, cox-comb gall, measure worm, cicada, grasshopper, katydid, 
black bug, butterfly, and spiders. Field trip, September 11. To 
gather insects. Found black moths, mosquitoes, green plant louse, 
larva of lady-bird beetle, leaf hopper, squash bug, larva of 
squash-vine borer. Field trip, October 2. To look for insects. 
Found cottony maple scale, plant louse, ants. Field trip. October 
7. To look for insects in a corn field. Found caterpillars, corn- 
stalk borer, green plant lice, ants, corn-root aphis. 

(2) Field trip, September 4. On this trip we also found three 
species of the old-fashioned potato-bug. It is also known by 
the name Spanish fly or blister bug. These bugs were working 
on potato and raspberry vines and grasses. One species was a 
plain black bug {sic) about three-quarters of an inch long. 
Another was about the same length, but it was black with a 
white stripe down the middle of its back and white stripes 
around its wings. The last one had dark brown stripes running 
lengthwise on its back. . . . 

(3) On September 9 we went out on the campus and watched 
some tent caterpillars at work. We found a colony of eight 
worms on elm leaves. They were black with light stripes on 
them. There were six or seven clusters of brown hairs on 
each segment. . . . We found pyramidal galls on some 
elm leaves but there were no insects in them. They were small 
and oblong in shape. We examined the leaves of an elm tree 
and found the coxcomb gall. The encasement, which was empty, 
was dark brown and its upper edge was ragged and rough. 

(4) Field trip, September 13. We then went to a truck patch 
just across the road from the campus. We examined the stem 
of the pumpkin and in it we found several squash-vine borers. 
They are very injurious to the plant and often destroy it en- 
tirely. They are of a whitish color. One of the passage-ways 
of the borer was measured and it was found that it had bored 
over 3 feet, which destroyed the vine. The adult form of the 
borer is a moth but is not injurious, only that it lays eggs that 
hatch into one of the great pests of the pumpkin patch. Field 
trip, October 7. The zoology class went to a corn field north 
of the campus and examined some of the cornstalks. In them 
we found small brownish worms, called the cornstalk borer, 
which is the larva of a moth. In one stalk, we found punctures 
in every joint, in the first seven joints from the ground, two 
or three in every joint. We found another small stalk with 
no ears on it being worked on by the borer. The class thought 
that the borer was getting ready for the pupa stage, as they 



70 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

did not seem to be working much. We found some green plant 
lice on a corn leaf, some with wings. A small stalk of corn 
that had an ant hill at the base, was pulled up by the roots 
and it was found that all the dirt had been worked away from 
them. The corn-root aphis were thick on the roots. They 
were a greenish color. We shook them and some ants ofif on 
the ground. The ants began carrying them away immediately. 

Certainly such work as indicated in these students' notes will 
not suffer by comparison with that of high-school classes spend- 
ing their time on planarian worms, campanularion hydroids, and 
holothurians, all of which the writer has seen studied i,ooo 
miles from the sea coast. The eighth grade of a prominent 
eastern school system during the past year began the study of 
a series of animal types with the amoeba. 

The principal of this interesting school, Mr. McNeil C. James,* 
is a graduate of Illinois Normal University, at Normal, and 
had, at the tinie of my visit, partly completed the course in 
agriculture at the University of Illinois. He later returned to 
the University and graduated with the class of 1909. He had 
prepared himself more especially along the line of agronomy. 
His successor, a graduate of the Northern Illinois Normal 
School, at DeKalb, took courses in animal husbandry at the 
summer session of the University last year, so as to be able to 
present that work to the two classes who had already taken 
the agronomy and horticulture. The assistant principal has 
studied at the University of Chicago and has had special train- 
ing in domestic science at Teachers College, New York. By 
introducing a certain amount of departmental teaching in the 
grades, the principal has been able, with a small teaching force 
to give his school some of the advantages of larger schools with 
teachers especially prepared along certain lines. 

Besides a fair amount of general apparatus, the school pos- 
sessed special one-inch glass tubing for soil tests, two-inch 
metallic tubes with sealed and with perforated bottoms, larger 
galvanized iron vessels holding definite amounts of earth, and 
other equipment for soil investigations. An orchard of twenty- 

' Mr. James now has charge of agricultural work in the Valley City 
(N. D.) State Normal School. 



Some Typical High Schools Teaching Agriculture 71 

four young trees was planned, laid out, and set out by the class 
in horticulture. An experiment station of several acres is con- 
ducted on the campus by Mr. Griffith, a local corn breeder, under 
the direction of Professor Hopkins, of the College of Agricul- 
ture. On account of the extremely wet spring, the class in 
agronomy did not attempt to do any outdoor planting. 

The consolidated district comprises fourteen sections of land 
and has a population of about 350, smaller than that of any other 
district visited. The assessed valuation is $164,000, which repre- 
sents, under the taxation laws of Illinois, one-fifth the supposed 
real value. As all over the state, the board is allowed by the 
so-called Juul law to levy 2^ per cent for building purposes, 
and a like amount for maintenance. The total enrollment of 
the high school last year was 32. Several times this number 
are in the grades. Those living at a distance are transported 
in school wagons. 

Guthrie County High School, Panora, Iowa 

Although Iowa has had on its statutes for many years a law 
providing for the establishment and maintenance of high schools 
by counties, the only one instituted so far under these provisions 
is the Guthrie County High School, at Panora. This school 
is finishing its thirtieth year and has outgrown two buildings. 
The classes in science and agriculture at present use most of 
the second of these, a two-story brick structure. 

The village of Panora, with a population of over 1,000, main- 
tains a school system of nine grades and promotes its graduates 
into the second year of the county high school. Two other 
villages in the county, with populations of 1,600 and 1,400 re- 
spectively have four-year high schools, while several villages of 
about 500 inhabitants each have one-year or two-year high 
schools. The total enrollment in the county high school for the 
year 1907-8 was 206; the number in the senior class was 30. 
Panora furnished 45 students, about 20 more than its quota. 
Each township is allowed free tuition for students up to a cer- 
tain percentage of its population and must pay tuition for all 
over that number. The expense, which is between $6,000 and 
$7,000, is borne by the entire county. Guthrie County has a 



72 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 



population of about 18,600. Five of the seven instructors held 
college degrees. One of the remaining two, Mr. J. I. Thompson, 
the instructor of agriculture, has since completed his senior 
year's work in the Iowa State Agricultural College. 

CURRICULUM OF THE GUTHRIE COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL 

[a and b, placed after a subject, indicate first and second semester, respectively.] 



Latin course 



Science course 



Agricultural course 



First Year — all courses 
Arithmetic, Algebra, American history. Civics, English, Latin, Physiology. 



Algebra 

English 

Ancient history (a) 

Mediaeval and Modern 

history (6) 
Latin 



Algebra (o) 

Plane geometry (6) 

German 

Physics 

Latin 

Arithmetic (a) 



Plane geometry (a) 

Solid geometry (b) 

German 

Political economy (a) 

English (b) 

Latin 



Second Year 

Algebra 

English 

Ancient history (a) 

Mediaeval and Modern 

history (6) 
Physical geography (a) 
Botany and 

Bookkeeping (b) 

Third Year 

Algebra (a) 

Plane geometry (b) 

German 

Physics 

Geology 

Arithmetic (a) 

Zoology 

Fourth Year 

Plane geometry (a) 

Solid geometry (b) 

German 

Political economy (o) 

English (6) 

Chemistry 



Algebra 

English 

Ancient history (a) 

Mediaeval and Modern 

history (b) 
Animal husbandry 
Agronomy 
Bookkeeping 



Algebra (a) 

Plane geometry (6) 

German 

Physics 

Geology 

Farm mechanics 



Plane geometry (a) 

Solid geometry (b) 

German 

Political economy (a) 

English (6) 

Chemistry 

Soils (a) 

Horticulture (b) 



About 50 students were enrolled in the three classes in the 
agricultural course. Three courses are offered — a Latin course, 
a science course, and an agricultural course. It will be seen from 
the appended curriculum that physics is the only science in the 
Latin course, and that three years of science in the scientific 
course replace the Latin, and that the agricultural studies replace 



Some Typical High Schools Teaching Agriculture 73 

in part the Latin and science of the other courses, and in part 
are added to the various sciences, so that it is not a " snap " 
course. 

Since stock raising is the principal industry of the county, 
most interest centers around animal husbandry and the related 
subjects of corn growing and animal feeding. For this reason 
all such work is taught in the earliest year of the agricultural 
work. It has been found that this arrangement best enables 
the school to justify the work in the eyes of the patrons and 
appeals to the liveliest interest of the country pupils. Only 
boys are admitted to the class in animal husbandry, which shuts 
out girls from the agricultural course, unless allowed to make 
substitutions. As the principal of the school expressed it, " The 
farmers scoffed the first year, were silent the second, and ap- 
proved of the work the third," for it had won their respect. 

The following description of the courses in agriculture will 
indicate the scope of the work and the methods followed. 

Stock judging. — Score card practice supplemented by lectures 
on the origin and history of the various breeds of live stock. 
Craige's work on stock judging is used as a basis of the study, 
and on specified days of each week the classes visit the stock 
farms of the surrounding country. The animals are studied 
from the standpoint of the farmer and professional stockman. 
The fall months are devoted to cattle, both beef and dairy types 
receiving attention. Horses and swine occupy the spring 
months.* 

Two days a week are given to lectures and one tc score-card 
practice and judging throughout the year. During the fall term 
the other two days are given to lectures on live stock manage- 
ment. Notes of all lectures are written up by the boys. 

Agronomy. — The study of corn and other grains occupies those 
months of the school year when it is impossible to do field work. 
On account of its prominence, corn receives the greater attention. 
The ideas that Professor Holden has been emphasizing for the 
past few years are systematized and the principles of seed selec- 
tion and seed testing put into actual use. 

This work occupies two days a week during three of the 
spring months. Two-thirds of the time is devoted to the scor- 
ing and placing of corn, the remainder to making germinating 
tests, largely on samples of seed to be used in spring planting 

* Guthrie County High School Bulletin, 1907-1908. 



74 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

sent in by farmers. Holden's "A B C of Corn Culture " is 
the text. 

Farm mechanics. — This subject is given two days a week 
throughout the third year. The students study printed sheets, 
prepared by the instructor on the development and mechanism 
of farm machinery. Considerable time is devoted to setting 
up, by the students themselves, various machines furnished free 
of charge by the manufacturers of farm implements and machin- 
ery. The school has had the use during the year of gasoline 
engines, mowing machines, corn harvesters, manure spreaders, 
plows, and other implements. At the time of the author's visit 
the students had just finished setting up for delivery a binder 
that had been sold. This was the first year the course had 
been given, and no little astonishment was caused by the possi- 
bility, as was learned by experience, of a failure to make a 
passing grade in the subject when the mechanical principles 
involved in the machines were not sufficiently grasped. In 
answer to a question, the principal ventured the opinion that 
possibly the course might be combined with the physics now 
taught the agricultural students in the same year with advantage 
to both studies. 

Chemistry and soil physics. — All students in the science and 
agriculture courses take chemistry the first semester of the fourth 
year. The students of agriculture continue the subject the re- 
mainder of seven months, during which time it becomes differ- 
entiated as soil physics. In addition to the usual chemical ap- 
paratus the school possesses for this special work a drying oven 
and several glass and galvanized iron tubes for the study of 
moisture percolation, soil capillarity, etc. Williams' text is 
used in chemistry, and King's " Soil Physics " in the latter part 
of the work. Stevenson's " Laboratory Guide for Soil Experi- 
ments " is the basis of the practicums, which take up one-half 
of the time. All the experiments are performed by the stu- 
dents. Five periods a week are given to the study. 

The chemical composition of soils, plant food, sources of 
fertility, texture, moisture with the causes aft'ecting its move- 
ment and conservation, and similar topics are discussed and 
investigated in the laboratory, each student gathering and test- 
ing his own samples. 

Horticulture. — The spring months of the senior year are de- 
voted to this subject. Bailey's " The Nursery " and Goflf's 
" Principles of Plant Culture " are followed, embracing the most 
important principles of fruit growing, grafting, cross breeding, 
and allied questions. 



Some Typical High Schools Teaching Agriculture 75 

Only a small amount of laboratory work was done in this 
course, that being mostly in grafting and budding. These stu- 
dents had all taken botany in their second year. As future 
classes in horticulture will not have had the botany (see printed 
curriculum) the work must be modified to include the botanical 
material necessary to understand the scientific principles under- 
lying horticultural practice. No garden work has been done in 
connection with the school work. Nor has any close correla- 
tion been worked out between such sciences as physics, geology, 
or physical geography, and the agriculture. That is, no agri- 
cultural content has consciously been put into those subjects. 

The high-school board is composed of seven members, the 
county superintendent being president. The principal, H. E. 
Ilsley, M. S., has had considerable training in science and is 
making an eflfor't to strengthen the science work as much as 
possible. The science work is in charge of the assistant prin- 
cipal, C. L. Cose, B. S. Much attention has been paid to the 
humanities as shown by the well selected school library of 
2,000 volumes. The attitude of those in charge on the ques- 
tion of education for citizenship is shown, not only by the 
inclusion of political economy, history, and modern foreign lan- 
guage in the agriculture course, but also by the solicitude shown 
for the farmers' children — that none should be deprived of the 
best culture of our civilization, nor be made thus to feel any 
class distinction. A casual inspection of the course here printed 
will show how earnest an effort has been made to include those 
elements of a general course that are supposed to give a broad 
outlook, and to make the course at the same time truly prac- 
tical from the agricultural standpoint. The large proportion (90 
per cent) of pupils from families living on farms or especially 
interested in them shows the importance of such a view of the 
curriculum. 

Waterford (Pa.) Township High School 

In rather marked contrast with the last two schools, with 
plenty of modern equipment and located in rich farming com- 
munities using the most up-to-date machinery, is the high school 
at Waterford borough and township, in Erie County, Pennsyl- 
vania. The township contains much good farming land, sup- 



76 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

ports prosperous dairying interests, and has the advantage of 
excellent markets near at hand. The community is an old, 
established one, and the farming population conservative in its 
methods. The stone " academy " built in 1822 still forms the 
principal part of the high-school building. The school board is 
made up of far-seeing, practical business men, some of whom 
have had the advantages of foreign travel and extensive busi- 
ness operations. They have inaugurated a workable course in 
agriculture running through most of the four years, and hope 
to introduce home economics as soon as public opinion is edu- 
cated up to it. That the work is exerting a wholesome influ- 
ence is shown by the fact that the students had tested milk for 
40 patrons of the cheese factory up to May 10, 25 of them 
being farmers with dairy herds ranging from 20 to 40 cows 
each. In the course of time boys in many of these homes will 
be able to use Babcock testers owned by their fathers. At 
present although the farmers have not gained the confidence to 
test their own seed corn, many have sent in samples to be tested 
by the class in agronomy. Some sent in shelled corn while 
others sent lots varying from two ears to three bushels. Four 
such lots arrived on the day of my visit, May 10. Most of 
the farmers, however, have not yet been converted into believers 
in seed testing. 

The district comprises about 25 square miles and has a popula- 
tion of 1,500 or more, half of this being in the borough. 

An average of 20 students have graduated for several years, 
75 per cent of whom later teach in the rural schools. As in- 
struction in agriculture was instituted in the fall of 1904 it will 
readily be seen that its influence is felt in no small degree in 
the rural schools of the township. A synopsis of the literary, 
scientific, and agricultural courses of the high-school curriculum 
is here given : 



Some Typical High Schools Teaching Agriculture 
CURRICULUM OF THE WATERFORD HIGH SCHOOL 



77 



Literary 



Scientific 



Agricultural 



English 

Algebra 

Latin 

Physical geography 

Arithmetic (two terms) 



First Year 

English 
Algebra 
English history (one 

term) 
Physical geography 
Arithmetic (two terms) 



English 
Algebra 
Plant life (a) 
Physical geography 
Arithmetic (one term) 



English 

Algebra (two terms) 

Latin 

Civics (one term) 



English 
Physics 
Latin 
German 



Second Year 

English 

Algebra (two terms) 

Zoology and physiol- 
ogy (elective) 

Bookkeeping, commer- 
cial law, and com- 
mercial geography 
(elective) 

Third Year 

English 
Physics 
Chemistry 

U. S. history (one term) 
Astronomy (one term) 
Gray's botany (one 
term) 



English 

Algebra (two terms) 
Civics (one term) 
Zoology and physiology 
Field, orchard, and gar- 
den crops (6) 



English 
Physics 
Chemistry 

Domestic animals (c) 
Soil physics (one term) 
Gray's botany (one 
term) 



Fourth Year 



English 
Geometry 
General history 
Latin 
German 


English 
Geometry 
General history 
Chemistry (two terms) 
Psychology (one term) 
Geology (one term) 
Common branches 
review of (one term) 


English 
Geometry 
General history 
Chemistry of soils, plant 

and animal life 
Geology (one term) 



a " Plant Life " dealt almost entirely with plant physiology, reproduction, and im- 
provement. 

b Equivalent to agronomy with a small amount of horticulture. 
c Equivalent to animal husbandry. 



7 8 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

The enrollment for the year 1907-8 was 89, distributed as 
follows : 

Fourth year, boys 6, girls 14, total 20 

Third year, boys 2, girls 3, total 5 

Second year, boys 4, girls 14, total 18 

First year, boys 23, girls 17, total 40 

Unclassified boys 5, girls 1, total 6 



Total boys 40, girls 49, total 89 

1905-1906 boys 40, girls 44, total 84 

1903-1904 boys 41, girls 63, total 104 

One-half of the students are from the township and most of 
the borough children are of parents who live in town but manage 
farms they own. About 90 per cent of all the students come 
under one of these heads, the remaining 10 per cent being chil- 
dren of merchants, laborers, etc. 

Only I per cent goes to college, though a few have gone to 
the agricultural college since instruction in agriculture has been 
introduced into the school. 

Seventy-nine in all were registered in the courses in agricul- 
ture; 12 in the first-year "plant-life" class, 15 in the second- 
year " field, orchard, and garden crops " class, including a few 
fourth-year students who elected it, and 16 in fourth-year agri- 
cultural chemistry, which had been preceded by the regular third- 
year class in chemistry, largely demonstrational in its nature. 
No class in " domestic animals " was in operation on account 
of the small size of the third-year class. 

The enrollment in these classes taken with the school enroll- 
ment given above shows the hold that the work has on the stu- 
dents of all years in the high school. 

The largest single class was the one studying poultry. It was 
a voluntary study not included in the regular curriculum, and 
carried on after school because a place could not be found for 
the subject in the daily program. While this arrangement greatly 
interfered with systematic work, the interest was well sustained. 
There were over thirty students in the class, the organization 
of which was inspired by the addresses on poultry delivered 
before the farmers' institute February 21, 1908. Because of 



Some Typical High Schools Teaching Agriculture 79 

the presence of so many children, some from grades as low 
as the sixth, the lecturer, Mrs. Allen, stated that she would talk 
about her hobby, — chickens. She was requested to continue the 
topic at the evening session. A day or so later in a class studying 
Shakespeare, taught as it happened by the instructor in agri- 
culture, one of the girls suddenly exclaimed, " Mr. Button, why 
can't we study poultry ? " The idea was so popular that a class 
was immediately organized. Incubators were lent by patrons, 
kerosene was furnished by the board, and eggs by the students. 
One incubator was furnished at half-price by the manufacturer, 
four workable machines were loaned by farmers, and one that 
did not operate successfully. This was made the subject of an 
investigation on faulty construction. There is no manual train- 
ing in the school, but many of the boys constructed brooders after 
the specifications given. As this course is unique among all 
those that came under personal observation, a detailed descrip- 
tion of it may not be amiss. 

The students worked in pairs, one from the borough with one 
from the country. Each pair attended to an incubator or to a 
tray for a week at a time, keeping a daily record of the tem- 
perature at morning, noon, and night, of the time of turning 
the eggs both morning and evening, and of the time the air was 
allowed to cool. The record also showed the date of testing 
the eggs and the number " tested out " each time. This was 
done about every six or seven days. Then after the hatch, the 
number of chicks and of unhatched eggs was entered on the 
record. Cardboard sheets about 12x18 inches were used for 
the record. The upper two-thirds was appropriately ruled for 
the data, while on the lower third were entered the number of 
hatched and unhatched eggs, the number of the incubator and 
tray or section, and the signatures of the observers for each 
week. While each student wrote his name or initials on the 
eggs he furnished, no attempt was made to have him care for 
his own eggs. 

The English of each of the four years was in charge of the 
instructor of agriculture, so that a closer correlation of the two 
lines of work was possible than I found in any other school 
visited. Not a little of the work in English was based on the 



8o Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

activities of the agricultural classes. One of the efforts in the 
senior rhetoricals, which occupied the time of the opening 
exercises was based upon an agricultural theme. Some of the 
composition work was directly related to the readings and lec- 
tures of the agricultural classes, so that their notes took the 
form of a formal exercise in English. I inspected a large num- 
ber of essays on the same topic, poultry houses, handed in a 
day or so before my coming. The guide for the course was 
Lockwood's " Lessons in English." Each essay was prefaced, 
of course, with an outline. From this lot one essay was selected 
because the outline was really a synopsis of the essay, such as 
would present in brief compass a good notion of the essay itself 
and of the topic as presented in the agricultural class. The 
author was the daughter of a hotel keeper, and without previous 
experience with poultry. 

This synoptical outline is here given as written: 

POULTRY HOUSES 
Houses and Inclosures 

1. The systems of housing are r 

(a) Colony plan, and 

(b) The continuous apartment house. 

2. The location and elevation of houses should be: 

(a) Facing the south, and 

(b) On elevation with natural drainage away from buildings. 

3. The proper time to build is : 

(a) During spring or early summer so as building will have time 
to dry out. 

4. The size and dimensions of a house : 

(a) Depends on the number of fowls to be kept, i.e., about five 
square feet to every chicken. 

(b) Should be square, and 

(c) As low as possible, as a low house is more easily warmed 
than a high one. 

5. Foundation walls : 

(a) When permanent should be made of brick, stone or concrete or 

(b) When large stones or brick are not available use small stones. 

6. The different types of roofs are : 

(a) The single pitch, 

(b) The gable roof, or double pitch, and 

(c) The combination. 



Some Typical High Schools Teaching Agriculture 8i 

7. Floors may be made of: 

(a) Earth, 

(b) Wood, or 

(c) Cement. 

8. Windows. 

(a) Should be placed high and vertical in the walls, and should be 

(b) About eight by ten inches in size of pane. 

9. The quality of construction : 

(a) Should be serviceable, fairly roomy, well lighted, and well 
ventilated, and 

(b) Constructed according to the location and climatic conditions. 

Interior Arrangements 

1. Roosts : 

(a) Seven to 10 inches should be allowed each fowl, 

(b) A perch 16 feet long will accommodate 20 chickens. 

2. Nests : 

(a) Should be placed in a dark place. 

(b) Partitions should be between nests. 

(Partitions) low enough to permit hens to go from one 

nest to another, and 

High enough to prevent eggs from rolling from one nest to 

another. 

3. Dust boxes : 

(a) Should consist of fine, light, dry dust, 

(b) Sandy loam, or 

(c) Road dust mixed with coal or wood ashes. 

4. The drinking fountain : 

(a) Should be large enough to hold water for twenty- four hours, 
and 

(b) Elevated from the floor. 

5. Feed trough and grit boxes : 

(a) Should be constructed so that the chickens cannot get in 
them with their feet. 

6. Ventilate with cloth curtains over openings. 

While no class in animal husbandry was organized in 1907-8 
for the reason already stated, the use of the Babcock milk test 
was taught to all classes. The tester purchased by the school 
was an eight-bottle, cased machine, costing $10 or $11. The 
center is interchangeable so that a twelve bottle-center may be 
substituted. The dairymen send samples for testing to " keep 
tab " on what they take to the creamery. As the creamery paid 
by the test and the cheese factory did not, the latter got the 



82 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

thin milk and was compelled also to adopt the Babcock test 
standard. Perhaps the fact that the proprietor of the cheese 
factory was a member of the board accounts for the board's 
appreciation of a tester as a piece of school apparatus. Some 
of the farmers were having their herds tested through a series 
of weeks for the purpose of thinning out their poor stock. The 
pupils made duplicate tests of those made by the instructor, 
kept the records, and got much practice in that way. The 
school also had the use of a cream separator valued at $85. 

Corn judging was a regular part of the work of the second 
year class, although some of the testing was done by the first 
year students. The ears of a lot brought in were spread out 
on a cupboard shelf and numbered. Six kernels were taken 
from each ear, two each from the tip, middle, and butt. The 
seed tester was made of a soap box with a layer of sawdust 
covered with muslin ruled off into squares. The box was deep 
enough to permit of several layers of seeds being placed in 
it, but since no provision had been made for rigid trays, this 
method was found to have no advantage if the seeds were to be 
inspected before sprouting. 

From forty to fifty farm journals are received and filed each 
week. Many of the seniors, in connection with their work in 
English, write to some of these journals and to the daily papers 
of Erie. 

Much of the equipment has been purchased with funds raised 
by the students. Six years ago, the school raised by entertain- 
ments $75, which was duplicated by the board. Eighty-five dol- 
lars was raised in a similar manner the year of my visit. 

The per capita cost of the school is $27. The tax rate of 
4 mills for the borough for the common schools, has risen to 8 
mills since it took over the academy. The total borough rate 
is 16 mills on an assessed valuation estimated at 66 per cent 
or over of the actual valuation. 

The school is unfortunate in having different instructors in 
agriculture every year, as this prevents a plan being carried out 
consistently from year to year. As it is, the instructors in agri- 
culture are paid a half more than other assistants, but after 
gaining a year's experience in teaching they are able to com- 



Some Typical High Schools Teaching Agriculture 83 

mand better salaries than the board feels able to pay. The work 
at the time of this visit was in charge of Mr. H. F. Button, 
a graduate of the New York State College of Agriculture at 
Cornell University, now director of the agricultural and normal 
training high school established at Manassas, Va. His immediate 
predecessor, Mr. H. O. Sampson,^ a graduate of the Iowa State 
College of Agriculture, left to enter the service of the Depart- 
ment of Agriculture, while another predecessor joined the staff 
of an agricultural college. 

High Schools Teaching Agriculture Only Incidentally 
Odell (III) High School 

In addition to the schools already described, a few others 
were visited. Three of these were academies in New Hampshire 
and Vermont with long and honorable histories as classical 
preparatory schools, which had more recently been giving serious 
thought to the question of adapting themselves to modern in- 
dustrial conditions. Their efforts had not produced results at 
that time which can be dealt with to advantage here. 

Of several high schools claiming to give instruction in agri- 
culture, not in special courses, but " incidentally " in the usual 
science courses, the one at Odell, Illinois, merits some notice, 
as it was the finest example seen of this type of instruction. 
This type of work has called forth much derision from the ad- 
vocates of agricultural education, and too often deservedly so. 
But the students at Odell seemed to derive more benefit from 
their work than do the students in the majority of schools numer- 
ously reported from different states as requiring all students to 
take the course in agriculture. 

Odell is a village of 1,200 in the rich corn-producing central 
part of the state. The school is not large, enrolling only 27 
students. The courses in botany and zoology were each eighteen 
weeks in length. In the former course were considered soils 
and their cultivation, and grain farming versus live stock farm- 
ing; and in the latter, the topics of birds and injurious insects. 

'See Yearbook of the Department of Agriculture for 1905, pp. 264-4, 
for an illustrated description of the work of Mr. Sampson, especially 
in animal husbandry, at the Waterford High School. 



84 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

In physics the pupils studied specific heat as appHed to soils, the 
color of soils, etc. Some of the students' compositions on corn 
epitomized their work in the field, laboratory, and reference work 
in connection with botany. The larger part of the essays did 
not deal with the structure of the stem and flower, as might be 
supposed, but with questions concerning the preparation and 
cultivation of the soil, treatment of the growing and matured 
crop, marketing, and corn products. The class made use of a 
commercial corn tester, valued at v$ii.5o. It uses earth in trays 
covered by a series of metal cross strips dividing the area into 
one and one-half inch squares, 210 in number. The two trays 
give a capacity of 420 ears. A wire rack goes with it, in which 
can be placed the ears from which the kernels are taken. The 
rack has figures across the top and letters down the side corre- 
sponding to a similar notation on the tester. The tester was 
lent by Mr. Vincent, the president of the board, a young business 
man who is a graduate of the Iowa State College of Agriculture 
and is much in sympathy with agricultural instruction. 

Mr. Vincent has also presented eight acres for experimental 
purposes. The school board is financing this work for the benefit 
of the community and not for the immediate use of the school, 
though the pupils will observe the work. The work is under 
the direction of Dr. C. G. Hopkins, of the University of Illinois, 
as is the experiment field of the John Swaney School. Super- 
intendent Vaughn has immediate charge of the work. The board 
expected to devote three acres to raising fine seed corn from $5 
stock. They hoped to sell this at a price sufficient to defray 
the expense of conducting the plats. Oats and clover were in one 
plat, and a new strain of Montana oats was being tried in an- 
other. Four series, each with eight one-tenth-acre plats, were 
being started with the different crops of a four-year rotation — 
corn, oats, wheat, and clover. Four plats in each series were 
being handled according to the grain farming system, and four 
according to the live-stock farming system. The four plats of 
each sub-series will receive different treatment. Accurate records 
will be kept by the superintendent, and the pupils of the grades 
will get material from the experiment farm for many " real " 
problems in arithmetic, calculating yields, percentages, profits, 
and the like. 



CHAPTER IV 
ADMINISTRATION, EQUIPMENT, AND METHODS 

The immediate problems confronting authorities who think of 
introducing agriculture into their schools are those of expense, 
of the relation of the new study to the present curriculum, and 
the problem of the teacher. Some of the more important admin- 
istrative questions concern the time given to agriculture, its place 
in the course of study, its relation to the other sciences and to 
the curriculum as a whole, and the teaching force that is to 
handle the subject. 

The data given here seem extensive enough to indicate current 
practice. In some cases the present usage represents the result 
of several years of experience; in most cases it represents tenta- 
tive efforts of schools but recently introducing agriculture, or 
of schools themselves organized but two or three years. It 
would be difficult in most cases to devise a way to determine 
the relative merit of the different procedures. 

When data from the Alabama district schools are included in 
tables the fact will be specially mentioned. 

Time Given to Instruction 

The series of tables under this heading shows in several ways 
the amount of time given the subject. Owing to the well-known 
unreliability of the " average " as giving an accurate notion of 
conditions, a broad distribution is made of the schools in a way 
to show the general tendencies at a glance. The distribution 
by weeks shows how extensive the subject is in the respective 
schools, while the distribution by minutes per week shows how 
intensive it is. The two of course do not necessarily go together. 

85 



86 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 



Distribution 


Table 18 

OF Schools According to the Number of Weeks 
Given to Agriculture 


Weeks per year 


No. of schools 


Weeks per year 


No. of schools 


6 


1 

al 
2 

7 
1 
625 
82 
8 



24 

26 


1 


g 





10 


28 





12 


30 


c2 


14 


32 


17 


16 


34 


3 


18 


36 


12 


20 


38 


5 


22 


40 


4 




! 

171 report- 
ing — all courses one year or less. 


a Includes one of g 
b One of 17 weeks. 
c One of 31 weeks. 


weeks. 







There were probably 50 other schools, mostly in Ohio, Mis- 
souri, and Nebraska, teaching agriculture 36 weeks or less at 
the time the above reports were received. 

In addition to the above, the Hamilton County High School 
at Tyner, Tenn., and the State Preparatory School at Tonkawa, 
Okla., have a two-year course in operation. The Guthrie County 
High School at Panora, Iowa, the joint township high school 
at Waterford, Pa., and the high school at Nephi, Utah, have 
three-year courses, while two or three New Hampshire acad- 
emies have instituted three-year courses to follow an introductory 
course in biology. Four-year courses are in operation at the 
Magnolia Township High School near McNabb, 111., the Cecil 
County High School at Calvert, Md., the Township High School 
at Petersham, Mass., the Model High School at North Adams, 
Mich., the Beaverhead County High School at Dillon, Mont., 
and the eleven congressional district high schools of Alabama. 
In most cases strictly agricultural studies do not extend through 
every one of the years mentioned, as usually in one or more 
of the years it is but a half-year study. 



Administration, Equipment, and Methods 



87 





Table 19 




Distribution 


OF Schools According to the Number of Minutes 




PER Week Given to Agriculture 


Minutes per week 


No. of schools 


Minutes per week 


No. of schools 


1- 20 




301-320 

321-340 


al 


21-40 


al 


41-60 





341-360 


al 


61-80 





361-380 





81-100 


a2 
a4: 


381-400 

401-420 


a5 


101-120 





121-140 


64 


421-440 





141-160 


cl9 


441-460 


1 


161-180 


10 


461-480 





181-200 


a58 


481-500 





201-220 


5 


501-520 





221-240 


dl5 


521-540 





241-260 


2 


541-560 





261-280 


a5 


561-580 





281-300 


3 


581-600 


al 






141 schools 






—including those of more than one 






year's work if reporting. 



a Usually denotes highest number of minutes. 
b Usually denotes 13 s minutes. 
c Usually denotes 150 minutes, 
(i Usually denotes 225 minutes. 

A closer distribution gives the following: 



Minutes per week 


No. of schools 


Minutes per week 


No. of schools 


1-100 

101-200 

201-300 


6 
88 
29 


301-400 

401-500 

501-600 

Total 


6 
1 
1 

141 



The usual number of recitations per week is five, and the 
usual length of the recitation is 40 minutes, which gives 200 
minutes as by far the most frequent case; 30-minute recitations 
in schools, with small teaching force gives 150 minutes per 
week ; five double periods of 80 minutes each gives 400 minutes 
per week, while the smaller number of double periods gives 
the amounts occurring less frequently. 

It is evident that a large number of minutes per week for a 
large number of weeks results in a heavy course and vice versa. 



88 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

The following table is the result of multiplying the minutes per 
week by the number of weeks, and gives a truer measure than 
either of the other tables. No effort was made to learn the 
times per week the subject was given, as the point would be 
of but little value, as would also be the length of the recitation. 

Table 20 

Distribution of Schools According to the Total Number of 
Minutes per Annum Given to Agriculture 



Minutes per annum 


No. of schools 


Minutes per annum 


No. of schools 


1- 1000 


3 


9001-10000 


1 


1001- 2000 


10 


10001-11000 


1 


2001- 3000 


18 


11001-12000 





3001- 4000 


52 


12001-13000 





4001- 5000 


13 


13001-14000 





5001- 6000 


9 


14001-15000 


2 


6001- 7000 


12 


15001-16000 





7001- 8000 


9 


16001-17000 


1 


8001- 9000 


4 




135 



All of these 135 courses run one year or less. 

The most frequent number of minutes in the above schools are : 

2,400 minutes in 8 schools. 

3,200 minutes in 7 schools. 

3,600 minutes in 37 schools. 

4,000-4,050 minutes in 8 schools. 

6,400 minutes in 9 schools. 

Including over half of the 135. 

Cases of 2,400 minutes usually mean 12 weeks of 40 minutes daily recita. 
lions. 

Cases of 3,200 minutes, 16 weeks of 40 minute recitations. 
Cases of 3,600 minutes, 18 weeks of 40 minute recitations. 
Cases of 4,000 minutes, 20 weeks of 40 minute recitations. 
Cases of 4,050 minutes, 18 weeks of 45 minute recitations. 
Cases of 6,400 minutes, 32 weeks of 40 minute recitations. 

Relation of Agriculture to the Curriculum and to the 
Other Sciences in the Curriculum 

No less troublesome a question than that of time, is the place 
of the study when continued through a single term or year. 



Administration, Equipment, and Methods 



89 



Some educators advocate its coming after the other sciences, 
which would place it in the fourth year, or at the lowest, in 
the third. Others contend that it should function as the course 
in introductory science for the entering high-school students. 

Table 21 

Distribution of Schools According to the Year in Which Agri- 
culture IS Given 



First year 

Second year 

Third year 

Fourth year 

Total 

First or second year 

First, second, or third 

First, second, third, or fourth 

Second or third 

Second, third, or fourth 

1 hird or fourth 

First or fourth 

Total of 145 courses of one year or less 

First and second years 

First, second, and third 

First, second, third, and fourth 

Second, third, and fourth 

Third and fourth 

Schools reporting 



No. of schools 



a49 
31 
14 
10 

104 



17 
b, c2 
7 
5 
2 
7 
1 

41 



2 
1 
d6 
2 
1 

12 

el57 



a Lake Charles, La. Eighth grade is the first year of the high school. 

b Athens, Ga. Eighth, ninth, and tenth grades are the first, second, and third years 
of high school. 

c Holland, Ind., admits pupils of the eighth (grammar) grade as well as first and second 
year high-school students. 

d Fifteen schools including the Alabama schools. 

e One hundred sixty-nine schools including the Alabama schools. 

The advocates of physical geography some years ago, claimed 
this as one of the strong points of their favorite. However, 
it has been disappointing in that the number and variety of 
scientific principles involved are too restricted to introduce to 



go Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

much of anything but geology, a study that has almost vanished 
from high schools. Consequently, physical geography must stand 
on the intrinsic worth of the information of the subject. Table 
21 shows in what year agriculture is given by schools offering 
single courses. It will be seen that one hundred and four schools 
give it a definite place in a single year. Forty-one allow it to 
be taken by pupils in two or more high-school grades, and twelve 
schools, in addition to the eleven congressional district high 
schools of Alabama, give dift'erent agricultural courses in more 
than one year.^ 

The above table shows that in ^6, or over one-half, of the 
high schools teaching agriculture for one year or less, the pupils 
may or must take it in the first year, while in 64 or almost half 
of these schools, they may or must take it in the second year. 
In only 69 schools are first-year students excluded, and in only 
31 schools are first and second year students excluded. Twenty- 
nine schools open the subject to two succeeding classes, as first 
and second, second and third, third and fourth. In most cases 
this is due to the doubling up of classes to economize teaching 
force, a device not confined to agriculture. 

One of the chief criticisms to be made on the administration 
of small high schools is, that this principle of doubling classes 
is not used oftener. It would prevent the teacher's energy from 
being dissipated over so many small classes, and would give the 
classes the added inspiration that comes from numbers. The 
writer has seen teachers in rural high school spending forty 
minutes with the one pupil composing a fourth year physics 
class — most expensive instruction when one considers that the 
entire third year class of three or four might have been taught 
at the same time with no more trouble and with much greater 
effectiveness. 

Eighty-one schools report the subject as being required ; in 
one it is required of the boys. Sixty-three schools offer it as 

* At the end of the school year 1908-9, the United States Department 
of Agriculture had reports from 47 high schools with four-year courses, 
II with three-year courses, 38 with two-year courses, 90 with one full 
year's work, and 123 with part-year courses. (See Annual Report of the 
Office of Experiment Stations, 1909, pp. 307-8). Most of these schools 
are included in Table i, first and second columns, and in Table 2, pages 
24 and 25. 



Administration, Equipment, and Methods 



91 



an elective. It must be remembered that the term " elective " 
covers a wide range of freedom. In some schools it is an 
" alternative " rather than a free elective, to be taken in place 
of, say, Latin. It is required in the " agriculture course " as 
opposed to the classical course in two or three schools. One 
school requires it in the science course. It is more apt to be 
required in small schools, especially in those with a two or three- 
year course, than in large schools. The reason is obviously one 
of economical use of the teaching force. When two classes, as 
the first and second, are consolidated or " doubled," it is evident 
that a greater opportunity can be given in the way of electives 
in this or in other branches, as that much more of the instruc- 
tor's time is released for other recitations. 

The content of the subject, scarcely less than the method of 
teaching it, is modified by the kind and amount of science pre- 
ceding it or being studied parallel to it. Table 22 shows this 
relationship between agriculture and the other sciences. The 



Table 22 

Distribution of Schools According to the Sciences Preceding 
Agriculture 



Agriculture preceded by 

Biology 

Botany 

Chemistry 

Geology 

Physics 

Physical geography 

Physiology 

Zoology 

153 cases reported 

Reporting parallel science 

Reporting no parallel science 

Not reporting 

Total 



No. of schools 



al 

33 

6 

3 

16 

72 

617 

5 

108 
r3 
29 



149 



a In many cases the botany partly precedes and partly follows the agriculture, which 
IS then tauRht in the winter months. This is probably true in a much larger number of 
cases than I have record of. 

b There seems to be good reason to suspect that in many cases this was not high school 
physiology. 

c One case of botany preceding or paralleling agriculture was counted as preceding it. 



92 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

large number of cases is due to the fact that some schools report 
more than one science as preceding agriculture. 

One school reporting botany and zoology, or physics was 
counted three times. One school reporting agriculture as a 
fourth year study to be preceded by " any laboratory science," 
could not be counted in the above table. 

Table 23 

Distribution of Schools According to the Amount of Science 
Preceding Agriculture 

Counted another way the reports show : 

29 schools reported preUminary science. 

70 schools reported 1 preliminary science. 

26 schools reported 2 preliminary sciences. 

11 schools reported 3 preliminary sciences. 

With the possibility of complications due to parallel studies being re- 
ported as preliminary. 

Table 24 

Distribution of Schools with First-Year Agriculture Preceded 
BY Another Science 

Of those schools having agriculture in the first year Schools 

Biology is reported as preliminary in 1 

Botany is reported as preliminary in 2 

Geology is reported as preliminary in 1 

Physical geography is reported as preliminary in 24 

Physiology is reported as preliminary in 7 

No science reported in 26 

Not reporting al2 

Total number schools reporting 73 

a Probably most of these schools may be counted as having no science preliminary to 
agriculture. 

This table indicates (i) how largely botany is a second year 
study, or (2) how often it follows agriculture in the first year, 
as it sometimes does, when it is often little more than plant 
analysis. 

The Teaching Force 

Since the subject of agriculture is new and few teachers are 
qualified to teach it, we find it handled often by the superin- 
tendent or principal, i. e., the principal of the entire village or 
township system, though occasionally by one who has jurisdic- 
tion of only the high school. The superintendent sometimes takes 



Administration, Equipment, and Methods 93 

the work because he is the only man in the system, the only 
one with any practical farm or laboratory experience, or because 
of the unsympathetic attitude of his science teacher. Quite often 
he is the science teacher. 

Table 26 shows that but two of these teachers, whether super- 
intendents or not, teach no other branches, and that only 31 
teach three other branches or less. The qualification of these 
persons to teach agriculture is considered in the chapter on 
Salaries and Preparation. 

Table 25 

Official Position of the Instructor in Agriculture, (Includ- 
ing THE Seven Alabama Schools Reporting) 

Taught by principal or superintendent ol04 

Taught by high-school assistant 645 

Taught by special agriculturist 11 

a Three of the principals were trained in college to be agriculttmsts. 
b Two of the high-school assistants share the work of agricultural instruction with 
their superintendent. 

It need not be said that a thoroughly trained teacher can 
teach a large number of classes more efficiently than one not 
trained. The teacher well trained in the sciences might also 
be expected to take up agriculture more easily than one not 
so trained. In order to be well taught, agriculture requires 
time for setting up experiments, as certainly as do other sciences. 

Table 26 

Distribution of Teachers According to the Number op Classes 
Taught in Addition to Agriculture 



Number of classes 

besides 

agriculture 


Number 

of 
teachers 


Number of classes 

besides 

agriculture 


Number 
of 

teachers 





2 

1 

11 

17 

22 

30 

15 

15 

10 

3 

5 


11 


5 


1 


12 

13 

14 


3 


2 





3 





4 


15 


2 


5 


16 





6 


17 





7 


18 


1 


8 


" Many " 


2 


9 


Total 




10 


144 









94 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 



It also needs time, as the physical sciences do not, for trips to 
the field, stock farms, factories for canning and for milk 
products, etc. The instructor who must teach many other classes 
or who must spend long hours in the school room can not be 
expected to teach agriculture as it should be taught. 

Tables 26 and 27 show how the time of high-school teachers 
of agriculture is spent. 

Table 27 

Distribution of Teachers According to the Number of Hours 
ON Duty in School 



Hours on duty 



Number 

of 
teachers 



Hours on duty 



Number 

of 
teachers 



2. 
24 
3. 
3i 
4. 
4i 
5. 
5i 



2 



8 



14 

3 

19 

12 



6 

6.V 

7'. 

n 

8 

All 

Total 



45 
3 
6 
1 

4 
2 

119 



As might be expected, only 6 teachers of the 31 teaching three 
classes or less besides agriculture are not superintendents or 
principals. But the 6 are not, as one might expect, the special 
agriculturists. 

The inevitable influence of the numerous classes is shown by 
the time given per week. For the reports quite generally show 
that agriculture receives the least amount of time in those schools 
reporting the larger number of recitations to the teacher. 

Table 28 

Total Number of Classes Assigned to Teacher of Agriculture, 

AND Time Spent Daily in Agriculture 

(Five items of Table 26.) 



Number of classes 


Number of teachers 


Time spent — minutes 


10 
11 
12 
15 

" Many " 


5 
5 
3 
2 

2 


120-150 
100-180 
90-150 
100-125 
135-180 



Administration, Equipment, and Methods 95 

One overworked North Carolina teacher with 18 classes man- 
ages to spare 20 minutes per week to agriculture, and succeeds 
in the course of 20 weeks in demonstrating most of the experi- 
ments in the text. Little wonder, however, that the attitude of 
the class is reported as " indifferent." 

Besides the difficulties already cited, a few others of an ad- 
ministrative sort were mentioned, such as, " the shortness of 
the season," ''unsuitable winter season" (given twice), "the 
necessity of carrying experiments home at night on account of 
the building getting cold," " immaturity of the pupils," " poor 
work done in the grammar grades," " size of the class," " too 
many other studies," " determination of the place of agricul- 
ture in the course," " too heaviness of the course." 

Experimentation and Field Work 

A point in favor of the modest course in agriculture intro- 
duced by many of the smaller high schools, is that it requires 
little equipment in addition to that used in the sciences usually 
taught. It requires no more elaborate laboratory facilities. In 
fact, its initial installation requires less expense than either 
physics or chemistry, while botany and zoology can get along 
with no less apparatus, and the use of the miscroscope renders 
their cost much more. If properly taught, physical geography 
should have as much in the way of apparatus, maps, and models, 
although this study has freed itself less than any other science 
taught in small high schools from the stigma of being a book 
science. 

Much of the apparatus distinctively agricultural can be made 
by any boy handy with carpenters' tools, and should, in fact, 
often does, furnish the direct motive for the manual training 
work. The home or village dump will supply most of the tin 
cans, pickle bottles, and jars. It is significant that 6 schools 
reporting " no difficulties " also reported " no money spent for 
agricultural apparatus." Their reports indicate that the work 
was not of the book type. Of 115 reporting their chief diffi- 
culties, apparatus and laboratory facilities were specifically men- 
tioned by 31, while 13 others mentioned " equipment," " facili- 
ties," and " money," which might apply equally to difficulties 



96 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

standing in the way of gardening. Seven of the 31 had spent 
respectively $10, $12, $20, $25, $30, $40, and $250. A school 
board that will introduce agriculture and refuse a moderate 
amount of apparatus, say $50 worth, will treat the other 
sciences in the same way. 

Fifty-six schools reported expenditures, loans, and gifts of 
$4,833. This included a gift of an $800 greenhouse at Petersham, 
Mass., and $1,000 spent at Dillon, Mont., partly in equipping a 
blacksmith shop. This leaves $3,033 reported by the remaining 
54 schools and by Petersham for some apparatus. Eight schools 
reported $887 for outdoor work, leaving $2,146 reported by 50 
schools for indoor work, 4 schools reporting on both items. 

Table 29 
Purposes to Which the Available Funds are Devoted 
Ihe $2,146 was reported under the following headings: 

By 4 schools, value of loans of sample seeds, apparatus, etc. . . . $207 

By 5 schools, value of gifts, of seeds, apparatus, etc 460 

By 16 schools, money spent for unspecified purposes, probably 

for the same purposes as already mentioned 497 

By 33 schools, money spent for sample seeds, apparatus, etc . . . 982 

$2,146 

Of the above amount $120 was spent for four compound 
miscroscopes and a balance. Three other items included a Har- 
vard balance and thermometers. The microscopes are biological 
apparatus rather than agricultural, while the other articles are 
as much physical as agricultural apparatus. But when biology 
and physics are not present in the course of study of the small 
high school, there is no limit to the degree to w^hich their content 
may be incorporated into the agricultural course and their ap- 
paratus appropriated to its purposes. 

54 schools reported no money spent for apparatus other than 
that used in the other sciences. 

2 reported only home-made apparatus. 

I reported a good equipment for general science. 

I mentioned that a fruit experiment station was near the 
school. 

I reported $50 spent for apparatus for all the sciences. 

I reported that it could borrow agricultural apparatus. 

I has the use of all kinds of farm machinery handled by the 
local dealers in farm implements. 



Administration, Equipment, and Methods 97 

Table 30 

Distribution of Schools According to Amounts of Loans, Gifts, 
AND Expenditures for All Agricultural Purposes 

No. of Schools 

$25 or less 28 

26 to 50 16 

51 to 100 3 

101 to 200 3 

201 to 300 3 

301 to 400 1 

401 or more 2 

10 to 50 (estimated) 10 

The estimates for the last item were based on general descrip- 
tion of the material reported, although no definite value was 
placed on it. 

It may be of interest to know what apparatus the schools have 
mentioned in their reports. 

10 schools reported soil tubes, pans, or boxes. 
12 schools reported samples of grain, seeds, soils, and fertil- 
izers. 

24 schools reported milk testers. 

2 schools reported milk separators. 

2 schools reported incubators. 

2 schools reported agricultural implements. 

I school reported a spraying machine. 

I school reported grafting knives. 

Doubtless many more schools could have reported one or more 
of these items had they cared to take the time. 

Nearly all the schools used texts containing a number of ex- 
periments that are practicable for indoor use. Several of the 
schools based their experimentation work on some manual, as 
Office of Experiment Stations Bulletins Nos. 186 and 195, and 
Circular No. yy, Bulletin No. 2 of the Minnesota Agricultural 
College ; Bulletins No. i and 2 on Agricultural Education, Miami 
University; and State Manual of Nebraska. Other schools 
report these as basis of extra experiments performed. 

As a measure of the efficiency of instruction in the general 
high school, the amount and character of the experimentation 
work done is probably as good as any, just as the practical farm 
plat demonstration may serve as an index of the work done 



98 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

in the technical agricultural high schools. The accompanying 
table gives a notion of this indoor work. 

Table 31 

Amount of Experimentation Work 

106 schools report doing practically all the experiments in the text or manual 
used. 
47 schools report doing experiments outside of text. 

26 schools report doing " a few," " some," or " not many " experiments. 
46 schools report doing unspecified laboratory work, (a) 

14 schools report doing no laboratory work. 

10 schools omitted this item on blanks filled out. (6) 

a These were reported on preliminary postal card inquiries, no fuller data being later 
supplied. 

b To these lo should be added as many more schools whose preliminary report mdicates 
such poor work that no further inquiry was made. 

Only four schools reported the amount expended on gardens. 
$40 for land, $5 and $250 for tools, and $260 for garden, total 

$555. 

Table 32 

Who Performed the Experiments 

18 schools report the work done chiefly by the pupils individually. 
18 schools report the work done chiefly by the pupils in groups. 
32 schools report the work chiefly demonstrated by the teacher. 

15 report the work done equally by pupils individually and in groups. 

14 schools report the work done equally by the pupils individually and 

the teacher. 
23 schools report the work done equally by the pupils in groups and by 

the teacher. 
12 schools report the work done by all three. 

132 reporting on this point. The others did not report or did no laboratory 
work. 

Three schools report lack of land as their chief difficulty, 
2 report lack of gardens, 2 lack facilities for outdoor practice, 
and I the inability to get land on a long lease, a total of 8 
reporting their chief difficulties along these similar lines. 

Table 33 

Schools Reporting Garden Work 

28 schools report school gardens without qualifications. 
9 schools report school gardens for training class (Nebraska). 
6 schools report " a little " or " irregular " gardening done, mostly with 
flowers. 
160 schools report " none " or fail to report. 
35 schools report " home gardens " without qualifications. 

1 school reports " home garden " for training class (Nebraska). 
74 schools report " none." 



Administration, Equipment, and Methods 99 

Over one-third of the schools reporting some kind of home 
garden work are in Ohio, where the State University in 1906-7 
and 1908 made a well organized effort to stimulate the movement 
among the few high schools then teaching agriculture, by send- 
ing out seed, printed directions, and blanks for reports. The 
effort was discontinued as soon as the work seemed fairly well 
established, and the schools have since been encouraged to con- 
tinue in the work without outside aid and to carry on breeding 
experiments, etc., with home grown seed. In some cases the 
high schools seem to have continued and enlarged this work, 
in other cases it has been continued by grade children, while 
still other schools have allowed this line of agricultural work 
to lapse. Similar work is carried on extensively by school chil- 
dren of the grades, or independently by the local school itself, 
under the patronage of the county superintendents, the county 
fairs, granges, agricultural colleges, and state departments of 
education in New York, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, North Dakota, 
Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Georgia. 

In the North the result is the '' corn contests," " flower shows," 
and " home economics exhibits " ; in the South it is the " corn, 
cotton and chicken contests." 

There is not the evidence, however, that the friends of edu- 
cation would like to see, to show that these movements are a 
part of the actual daily life of the school room, furnishing the 
problems for solution therein, and material for the work in 
English, arithmetic, and geography. 

A surprisingly small number report taking trips to stock 
farms, creameries, cheese, butter, or canning factories — only 
fifteen in all, and two-thirds of these in Nebraska. Three teach- 
ers cite " lack of time for field trips " as their chief difficulty, 
while one laments that no " fields are located conveniently for 
observation." 

Text and Reference Books 

The less of special preparation a teacher has, the more truly 
the character of the work done is likely to be represented by 
the text used. By keeping in mind the preparation of the teach- 
ers indicated in the next chapter, and the number of different 



loo Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

classes handled by the agricultural teachers as shown in the 
present chapter, one who is conversant with the texts mentioned 
in Table 34 may gauge somewhat approximately the grade of 
the agriculture now taught. It should be said, however, that 
some of the texts of more truly high-school grade, as those by 
Ferguson and Lewis, or Jackson and Daugherty, both suitable 
for the lower years, and the more advanced text by Warren, 
have not been on the market as long as those of purely ele- 
mentary grade; also that many teachers recognize the unsuit- 
able character of some of the books most widely used as high- 
school texts. Some of these reported that their pupils regarded 

Table 34 
Text Books Reported as Used 



Author and title 



Bailey: Principles of Agriculture 

Bessey, Bruner, and Swezey: New Elementary 
Agriculture 

Burkett, Stevens & Hill: Agriculture for Begin- 
ners 

Ferguson & Lewis: Elementary Principles of 
Agriculture 

Goff & Mayne : First Principles of Agriculture . 

Goodrich : First Book of Farming 

Hatch & Haselwood: Elementary Agriculture 
& Practical Arithmetic 

James: Agriculture 

Jackson & Daugherty: Agriculture through 
Laboratory and School Garden 

" King " 

Sheppard & McDowell: Elements of Agriculture 

Voorhees: First Principles of Agriculture . . . 

Total 

Several texts reported used 

No text used 

Report on texts omitted 

Not reporting fully 



Refer- 
ences 



18 
4 



Texts 
in 

high 
schools 



39 

2 

71 



23 
2 



6 

19 

3 
1 

166 

4 

5 

6 

56 



Texts in 

training 

classes — 

Michigan, 

New York 

and 
Wisconsin 



20 
19 



11 
2 



59 

4 

5 

9 

12 



Administration, Equipment, and Methods loi 

the texts in question as " kindergarten books," or expressed in 
other terms the idea that the pupils craved something more suited 
to their capacities.^ 

Two hundred thirty-three high schools or teachers' training 
classes, most of them in high schools, reported the name of one 
text each, lo reported that none was used, 8 reported that 
" several " were used, 15 omitted this item from reports other- 
wise rather complete, and 56 schools sending in very incomplete 
reports omitted this item. 

Fifty titles were reported as reference books 141 times in all. 
Of these, 8 were public school texts, reported 47 times, 5 of 
which were grammar school texts, reported 24 times. 

Table 35 
Books Reported as References Five Times or More 



Author and title 



Bailey: Principles of Agriculture 

Burkett, Stevens & Hill: Agriculture for Beginners. 

Goff & Mayne: First Principles of Agriculture 

Goodrich: First Book of Farming 

Hunt: Cereals of America 

James: Agriculture 

King: The Soil 

(unspecified) 

Roberts: The Fertility of the Land 



Times reported 



17 
8 
7 
5 
7 
5 
8 
4 
5 



Farmers' bulletin 44 was reported 6 times, while bulletins 22 and 28 were 
reported 5 times each. Office of Experiment Stations bulletin 186 (now 
superseded by Farmers' bulletins 408 and 409) was reported many times 
as text, reference, and laboratory manual. 

^According to a report by G. A. Bricker on high schools in Ohio 
teaching agriculture in 1910-1911, issued as this work is going to press, 
the texts used in 243 high schools were as follows : Bailey, 8 ; Byrkett, 
Stevens and Hill, 56; Goflf and Mayne, 30; Jackson and Daugherty, 26; 
Warren, 60; Wilkinson, 55; five others, 8. The last two named have 
been issued since receipt of the replies from which Table 34 was com- 
piled. Warren's text has also been introduced into a large number of 
schools offering agriculture in the upper years of the curriculum. 



CHAPTER V 

PREPyVRATION AND SALARIES OF TEACHERS OF 
AGRICULTURE IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS 

Preparation and Practical Experience of the Teachers 

Considerable information is at hand as to the preparation of 
the persons teaching agriculture in the school studied. In the 
questionaire sent out the matter was formulated thus : " Special 
preparation of the high school instructor for teaching agricul- 
ture, either theoretical, scientific, or practical? (Indicate nature 
of this) Is he a college or normal school graduate?" 

Some respondents attempted to answer all of the first ques- 
tion by simply writing " yes," " all three," or by underscoring 
one or more. If the teacher was a college graduate, any 
" scientific " preparation mentioned has been considered to be 
college science. Few gained their theoretical knowledge in 
agricultural colleges, most of them getting it through reading. 

The analysis of the returns is shown in Table 36. 

Table 36 
Preparation of 182 High-School Teachers of Agriculture 

Number claiming to have special preparation or qualifications 143 

Number disclaiming any special preparation or qualifications 12 

Number failing to report special preparation or qualifications 19 

Number reporting on preparation, scholarship, or graduation 174 

Number failing to report on any of these items 8 

Total number of reports used in calculations 182 

Number reporting practical farm experience 77 

Number reporting college courses in agriculture a29 

Number reporting college courses in science 641 

Number reporting normal courses in agriculture cl4 

Number reporting (unspecified) theoretical preparation 24 

102 



Preparation and Salaries of Teachers in High Schools 103 

Number graduates of college . ; d81 

Number graduates of college and normal school e8 

Number graduates of college or normal school /7 

Number graduates of normal school only /49 

Number not graduates of either 28 

Number not graduates of college (expressed or implied) 67 

Number failing to report on graduation who reported other data in this 

table and probably not graduate of either 23 

Total of last three items 118 

a Three reports specified agriculture in summer school. 

b This science in some cases may be normal school science, where the report did not 
indicate whether graduation was from college or from normal school. It includes only 
the cases reporting science but no agriculture. Most of the agriculture group just above 
specifically reported science as well. 

c All but two of these cases were reported from Missouri. 

d Includes eight or nine graduates of agricultural colleges. 

e Included in graduates of colleges. 

f Included in the next item, graduates from normal schools only. These persons an- 
swered only " yes " to the question, " Is the instructor a college or a normal school 
graduate? Which? " In addition to these, five reported as being juniors in college, and 
five as being juniors in normal school. 

Out of the 182 schools noted, 121 are in the three states of 
Missouri, Nebraska, and Ohio. The principal items of the pre- 
ceding table relating to those states are distributed as follows : 

Table 37 
Preparation of 121 Teachers in Missouri, Nebraska, and Ohio 



Mis- 
souri 


Per 

cent 


Ne- 
braska 


Per 
cent 


Ohio 


Per 

cent 


No. 
report- 
ing 


Total 


32 
9 


al8 
28 


42 
618 


23 
43 


47 
18 


26 
38 


121 
45 


182 
81 


13 
9 


41 

28 


13 
2 


31 
5 


9 
14 


20 
30 


35 
25 


48 
28 


1 


3 


9 


21 


6 


12 


16 


24 


23 


72 


24 


57 


29 


62 


76 


91 


12 


37 


12 


29 


26 


55 


50 


77 


rf3 


9 


2 


5 


4 


8 


9 


27 


6 


19 


12 


29 


9 


20 


27 


41 



Per 
cent 



Total schools reporting. . . . 

Graduates of college 

Graduates of normal schools 
only (c) 

Not graduates at all 

Not reporting, probably not 
college gracluates 

Total number apparently 
not college graduates. . . . 

Reporting practical farm 
experience 

Reporting agricultural col- 
lege work 

Reporting work in college 
science(e) 



67 
57 

73 
89 

67 

83 

65 

33 

66 



o Percentage of the 182. 

b A large proportion of the Nebraska science teachers are women from cities, so this 
item runs higher for Nebraska than do those of farm experience and agricultural courses. 
c See note j under preceding table. 
d One reported course in summer school. 
♦ See note b under preceding table. 



I04 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 



Salaries Paid the Teachers of Agriculture, Trained and 

Untrained 

In Missouri, Nebraska, and Ohio, information regarding the 
salaries paid instructors of agriculture is available, in most 
cases, in the reports of the state department of education. Ex- 
cept in a few notable cases, this information is not available for 
the country at large outside of the states named. There is 
some doubt about two cases in Missouri and seventeen in 
Nebraska, where the subject was taught by an assistant, whose 
salary was not specifically stated. Since in none of these in- 
stances was a larger salary reported on account of ability to 
teach agriculture, it seemed safe to use the average salary given 
for the assistants in the respective schools. Nearly every one 
of the seven " assistants " reported from Ohio, turned out to 
be officially listed as " high-school principal," and in every case, 
was the only other teacher besides the superintendent, and the 
salary was therefore easily found. The tabulations are shown 
as follows : 

Table 38 

Salaries of 110 Teachers of Agriculture in Missouri, Nebraska, 

AND Ohio 



Salary 

$301- $400 

401- 500 

501- 600 

601- 700 

701- 800 

801- 900 

901-1,000 

1,001-1,100 

1,101-1,200 

1,201-1,300 

Average 

Average deviation 
Median 



Missouri 



Nebraska 



Ohio 



Total 




4 
13 
4 
4 
3 

2 
2 
1 



4 

14 

26 

20 

18 

14 

5 

3 

5 

1 



31 

$640 
106 
612 



33 

K703.80 
173.00 
596.00 



46 

$733.70 
170.00 
733.00 



110 
$698.35 
655.00 



A few teachers, for instance, superintendents, drawing large 
salaries may raise the average so as to make it seem to show 



Preparation and Salaries of Teachers in High Schools 105 

something not warranted by the facts. Thus the one salary of 
$1,150 raises the average for Missouri from $623 to $640. The 
five salaries of $1,100 and over in Nebraska raise it from $624 
for the lower twenty-eight teachers to $704 for the thirty-three. 
The true state of affairs is often better shown by the " median " 
instead of by the average. The median is the point above and 
below which there are an equal number of the cases. For 
example, in Missouri just as many teachers of agriculture receive 
less than $612 as receive more. For Nebraska, the correspond- 
ing middle point is less than $600, over $100 less than the 
average. The " average deviation " shows how much, on an 
average, the different salaries vary from some central tendency, 
in this case the average being used. Thus in Missouri the 
salaries vary on an average about $106 from the $640, and 
in Nebraska, about $173. The average is not worth much 
unless we know how much the individual instances deviate from 
it, and how the cases are grouped or " bunched." The average 
and median are practically the same for Ohio because the group- 
ing is pretty much the same toward both extremes. 

Reference to Table 39 will show that the largest number of 
women teachers in charge of classes in agriculture is in 
Nebraska, where the median is the lowest, and where the aver- 
age is pulled up by a few well-paid principals teaching the 
subject. But in Missouri, with almost as low a salary standard, 
the subject is nearly always taught by the superintendent or 
principal who is in every case a man. Full data would pull 
down this figure still further, for information was not asked 
of any school credited with less than ten students in agricul- 
ture in the 1908 report of the Department of Public Instruction. 

It is to be borne in mind, of course, that the higher salaries 
are paid because the recipients are executive and not because 
they teach agriculture; for they often do it because none of 
their teachers can or will. Only one of the no teachers noted 
in Table 38, who received over $700, was paid more on this 
account. He is a superintendent in Missouri and receives $100 



io6 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

extra because of his agricultural ability. Other teachers receiv- 
ing over $700, and who are paid more on this account, are the 
high-school assistants at North Adams, Mich., Dillon, Mont., 
Tyner, Tenn., and the principals of the public high schools at 
Calvert, Md., Petersham, Mass., and McNabb, 111.^ All of the 
special schools noted later pay more than they otherwise would. 
Reference has been made to the sex of the teachers here con- 
sidered. It may be that the relatively large number of women 
in Nebraska accounts for the low salaries paid there as com- 
pared with Ohio, although the figures for Missouri do not seem 
to lend strong support to this idea. 



Table 39 

Official Position and Sex of the Teachers of Agriculture in 
Missouri, Nebraska, and Ohio 



Sex and position 


Missouri 


Nebraska 


Ohio 


Total 


Male superintendent or principal, certain 

Female principal, certain 

Assistant under male principal, doubtful. 
Assistant under female principal, doubtful 
Unknown, doubtful 


27 
1 
2 

1 


11 

a7 

6 

9 




41 
2 

62 

1 


79 

10 

10 

9 

2 




31 


33 


46 


110 



o Two were among those receiving $io a month extra because of abiHty to teach agri- 
culture. See Table 40. 
b Women assistants. 

The following table is important because it is the best indi- 
cation at present of the value placed by boards of education 
on ability to teach agriculture in the high school. It classifies 
the 15 out of 184 who are reported as getting more than they 
otherwise would. 



' This does not take account of other high schools in the same state 
into which the subject has been introduced with a special instructor 
since these statistics were compiled. 



Preparation and Salaries of Teachers in High Schools 107 



Table 40 

SAi^'i.RiES OF Teachers Paid More Because of Ability to Teach 
Agriculture in the High School 



Yearly salary 


No. 


Extra per month 


No. 


Salary would 
be less by 


No. 


$401-1500 

501- 600 


i 

3 
4 
3 

a2 

15 


0-$10 


4 
4 
2 
1 
1 
1 
al 

14 


Per cent 

11-20 

21-30 


8 


$11- 20 


1 


601- 700 


21- 30 


31-40 


4 


701- 800 


31-40 


Over 40 


al 


801- 900 

Over 900 


41- 50 

51- 60 






81-90 




Total 




14 



Average of the first 14, $779.20. Average for 14, $25. Average for 14, 

22 per cent. 

a $1,600 was paid for one year to an agriculturist with teaching experience to organize 
a county high school with agriculture as the prominent feature, but his successors have 
received probably less than half that amount. 

The foregoing table includes only those reported to be getting 
more on account of teaching agriculture, whether they happened 
to be trained agriculturists or not. Perhaps a better idea of the 
market value of the agriculture teacher may be gained by con- 
sidering the absolute salaries paid the men trained for this work, 
in the public high school, and in others approximating the type. 
The following table is based on data from 7 of the congressional 
district schools of Alabama, 3 of the new state agricultural and 
normal training schools of Virginia, the 4 county agricultural 
schools of Wisconsin, 15 county high schools, 4 township high 
schools, 6 village high schools, and i state school in California. 

The Alabama, Virginia, and Wisconsin special schools are 
each represented by one man, the only distinctive agriculturists 
in the schools, which differ in this respect from the Georgia, 
Minnesota, and California special schools. In the Wisconsin 
schools, special teachers of domestic science and of manual 
training receive from $800 to $1,200. 



io8 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

Table 41 

Salaries of Agriculturists in Public High Schools and Other 
Public Secondary Schools 



Salary 

$583 

675 

750-800 

900 

1,000 

1,200 

1,300 

1,450 

1,500 

1,700 

1,800 

2,000 



No. 

1 
3 
6 
2 
12 
6 
1 
1 
3 
1 
2 
4 

41 



All of the first ten are assistants. 

Four of the twelve $i,ooo men are assistants, one is a principal, and the other seven 
probably are. 

All the others are principals except the one receiving $1,450, and one each of those 
receiving $1,500 and $1,800. 

See also the note under Table 40. 



The Agricultural College as a Source of Supply, with 

Statistics on Salaries Commanded by 

Recent Graduates 

Passing from the secondary school demand, and its valuation 
of such service as mentioned, let us now turn to the available 
supply of persons receiving the most desirable preparation and 
see what their talents command in other markets. 

Table 42 shows what salaries the men just out of agricultural 
college are receiving when they are engaged by the colleges them- 
selves, by the experiment stations, and for similar work by 
state or federal departments. The secondary schools must not 
only compete with the financial inducements here listed, but 
also with the greater desirability, to the average college man, 
of college and research work over public school teaching. It 
must be remembered, too, that many of these graduates are 
without any teaching experience. 

It will be seen from the table that the salaries run quite 
evenly for the three years, as shown by the comparative average 



Preparation and Salaries of Teachers in High Schools 109 

of $947.50, $921.50, and $935.53 respectively. The average devia- 
tion being $192, $200, and $190 respectively. The medians are 
but little different from the averages, viz., $950, $920, and $950. 
The " mode " or place where most of the cases lie is seen to 
be very wide and not " bunched," for four-fifths of the salaries 
are rather evenly scattered from $720 to $1,200. 

The presence of 29 men taking higher degrees in the groups 
receiving the high salaries will, of course, leave a lower average 

Table 42 

Distribution of Salaries of Graduates from Agricultural 
Colleges in 1907, 1908, and 1909 



Salary 



All degrees 



1907 1908 1909 Total 



Higher degrees 



1907 1908 1909 Total 



$400- $449 (o) 

450- 549... 

550- 649... 

650- 749... 

760- 849... 

850- 949... 

950-1,049... 
1,050-1,149... 
1,150-1,249... 
1,250-1,349... 
1,350-1,449... 
1,450-1,549... 
1,550-1,649... 
1,650-1,749... 
1,750-1,849... 

Total 





1 

6 

16 

15 

13 

16 

1 

13 



4 

3 

1 

1 






2 
9 

13 

18 
7 

18 
1 

16 

2 
2 

1 




1 



3 

14 

15 

17 

20 



16 



5 

1 





1 



1 

3 

18 

43 

48 

37 

54 

2 

45 



11 

6 

1 

2 

1 



1 
7 

11 

4 
4 
1 



90 



89 



93 



272 



28 



a The limits of the groups are placed at the so's instead of at the loo's, as seven-ninths 
of the salaries are even hundreds and thus lie at the center of each group instead of at 
one extreme as would otherwise be the case, making the groups lop-sided. 



for the men receiving the bachelor's degree. These 29 men 
received on an average $1,180 each, with a strong mode at 
$1,200. The 243 men with the bachelor's degree averaged 
$909.13, the two receiving $1,700 and $1,800 bringing the 
average up from $899. 

The positions obtained by these 253 men are as follows : Two 
were elected to professorships, and twelve to adjunct, asso- 
ciate, or assistant professorships. One went into a Louisiana 



no Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

sugar school, one became principal of a township high school,* 
another principal of a county agricultural high school, and a 
third principal of a school of forestry. Seven went into agricul- 
tural commercial work, six into the state, and eight into the 
federal government service. Fifty-one were elected instructors 
in colleges, and one hundred and thirty-eight were elected assist- 
ants. In many cases it is clear that these are minor officers of 
administration or of instruction, such as laboratory assistants, 
etc. ; but in other cases it is not clear that they are not on the 
staff of the experiment station. The twenty-five unclassified 
men are field agents, experts, or are clearly attached to the ex- 
periment stations. 

Any one at all conversant with the pittances paid the graduates 
of classical and literary college courses can readily see the much 
greater opportunities open to the graduate of the agricultural 
college. 

The following items indicate that the " plums " do not all 
go to the men taking higher degrees, and the possession of these 
degrees does not necessarily assure the best-paying or most 
desirable positions ; but the figures do show the handicap on 
public schools desiring even the bachelor graduates of agri- 
cultural colleges. 

(i) The three best-paying positions, $1,700 in 1907, Si. 680 in 
1908, and $1,800 in 1909, went to men holding only the bachelor's 
degree. 

(2) Of the fourteen elected to professorships, either full, 
adjunct, or assistant, but one was a doctor of philosophy, one 
a master of arts, one a master of science, and two were doctors 
of veterinary medicine, a degree which probably does not pre- 
suppose the bachelor's degree. These positions pay from $1,100 
to $1,600, averaging $1,380. The doctors of philosophy did not 
fare much better than the others. The four received respectively 
$1,000, $1,200, $1,200, and $1,600, while the five doctors of 
veterinary medicine received $1,000, $1,000, $1,200, $1,400, and 
$1,500. The eighteen holders of master's degrees averaged 
$1,205, ranging from $900 to $1,500. 

'A 1909 bachelor of science in agriculture man has just been elected 
to a normal school professorship. 



Preparation and Salaries of Teachers in High Schools 1 1 1 

The eight men entering the service of the United States Gov- 
ernment averaged $1,230, ranging from $840 to $1,400. 

It must be remembered, however, that some of these men, 
while graduating from land-grant colleges may have taken gen- 
eral science courses and not courses leading to the degree of 
bachelor of science in agriculture. It would seem that many 
of them have done so. 

Inquiry made of agricultural college officials revealed the 
names of very few graduates who had entered public school 
work. Replies from most of the forty-two whose addresses were 
obtained showed that only four were then teaching and that not 
more than three or four others had taught. These college 
officials and graduates were asked to estimate roughly the salaries 
high schools must offer to attract the services of agricultural 
college graduates as principals or as science teachers. Twenty 
of the former and fifteen of the latter responded. For principal- 
ships the estimates were $700 to $1,600 and $600 to $1,500 
respectively ; for assistantships, $600 to $1,200 and $500 to $1,200 
respectively. It will be noticed that there was little difference 
in the estimates, but that the range is so wide as to make them 
of little value to a school board in doubt about the probable 
cost of such services. No distinction could be made between 
the northern and southern states ; but the eastern states, as a 
group, showed by far the lowest estimates. 

Provisions for the Higher Training of Teachers of 
Agriculture 

Many advances have been made in the way of preparing 
teachers to meet the new demands for agricultural instruction 
since Dean Bailey's report^ of two years ago. Since then the 
number of colleges providing teachers' courses of from one to 
four years in length has at least doubled. 

While the courses provided for in the regular college curricu- 
lum must be depended upon to furnish a substantial foundation 
for the teacher's preparation in the long run, a more important 
movement, from the standpoint of immediate results, has been 

' L. H. Bailey, Bulletin 380, Bureau of Education, On the Training 
of Persons to Teach Agriculture in the Public Schools, 1908. 



112 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

the development of the college summer school courses in agri- 
culture, a movement so new that Dean Bailey gives but a passing 
mention to one institution of college rank offering such work. 

To the student of education, probably the most significant 
development in this field has been the spread of the idea, within 
the last two years, of establishing chairs of education in agri- 
cultural colleges, or chairs of agriculture in colleges of education. 

Another movement, yet in its infancy but of great promise, 
is the idea of the " conference on agricultural education " held 
in connection with the summer schools. This is a sort of special- 
ized but elaborated teachers' institute of state-wide proportions, 
and is calculated to focus attention on large professional problems 
too broad to fit into the class room discussions of special courses. 

Agricultural colleges make provision for prospective teachers 
in one of two ways. Students of the regular four-year course 
in agriculture may elect courses in education given in the agri- 
cultural college or in some other college of the university. The 
second way is for the prospective teacher to pursue a special 
group of subjects, supposed to be especially adapted to the needs 
of teachers in content or in organization. This special group 
may require anywhere from one to four years to complete ac- 
cording to the number of units it contains. It may not and 
sometimes does not include any pedagogical work. 

The state agricultural colleges of Massachusetts, Michigan, 
North Dakota, and Indiana (Purdue University) use the first 
plan. The agricultural colleges of Connecticut and North Caro- 
lina, and of the University of Maine have the special group of 
agricultural subjects without courses in education. Michigan 
Agricultural College has such a course of one year, which does, 
however, presuppose a normal school certificate or experience 
in teaching. 

The state universities having agricultural colleges and also 
colleges of education or well defined departments of education 
may effect a reciprocal arrangement whereby the latter may 
furnish the agricultural college students with facilities for peda- 
gogical training. The state universities of Illinois, Minnesota, 
and Wisconsin, are notable examples of institutions following 
this plan. Conversely, students in the college of arts and sciences 



Preparation and Salaries of Teachers in High Schools 113 

may elect courses in the agricultural college. While many of 
the courses are technical, some are designed especially for pros- 
pective teachers of the subject. The teachers' college of the 
University of Missouri offers similar agricultural courses for 
teachers. The " course for teachers " is becoming less and less 
(except in summer schools) one of subject matter and increas- 
ingly one of methods, as the former kind of course is supplanted 
by groups of more or less technical courses in agriculture. 

It is highly significant that nearly all the high-school teachers 
who reported having received some training in agriculture, other 
than that gained by practical experience, took courses in summer 
schools. They were about equally divided between summer 
sessions of colleges and normal schools. The efficiency of the 
high-school courses in agriculture of one year or less will doubt- 
less depend for some years upon help the summer schools are 
able to give science teachers, high-school principals, and village 
superintendents. 

The efficiency of these summer courses is probably increasing 
more rapidly than their enrollment. This was practically at a 
standstill in 1908 and 1909 in the twenty-one institutions in 
United States and Canada most prominent in this work, being 
about 1,135 each summer. The sessions lasted from two to nine 
weeks. Five continued four weeks and six ran six weeks each. 
The registration in agriculture varied in 1908 from 7 to 166. 
In 1909 the number of summer schools registering less than 25 
students fell from eight to four. Over one-third of the students 
were registered in courses in which the nature-study idea, as 
commonly understood, was very prominent. About one-half 
were enrolled in separate agricultural colleges, about one-fourth 
in the agricultural colleges of state universities, and the rest 
in the summer sessions of colleges of education or of arts and 
sciences. 

The number of distinct courses along agricultural and nature- 
study lines offered in each school varied in number from i 
to 19, and were often only one-half or one-third the length of 
the entire session. In 1908 but three summer schools offered 
courses restricted to high-school teachers. The exact number 
of the teachers enrolled in these courses is not available. The 



114 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

following summer four out of six schools offering courses in 
secondary school agriculture registered 78 persons in these 
courses. Only the separate agricultural colleges have introduced 
into their summer work such specialized courses as agricultural 
pedagogy and rural sociology. 

The " conference " is a feature of recent origin in the col- 
leges giving agricultural instruction. It has taken a form, so 
far, rather distinctive for each institution adopting it. The 
central topic may be agriculture as a science, as a subject of 
instruction, or as related to community life. 

The conferences held since 1908 during the summer session 
of the Massachusetts Agricultural College have addressed them- 
selves principally to the first theme and to agricultural science 
in relation both to the high school and, to a lesser extent, to 
the elementary school. 

During the same years the University of Virginia has held 
a " rural life week," in which the discussions center more around 
the improvement of the social and economic condition of agri- 
cultural workers. 

During the four weeks' session of the North Dakota Agricul- 
tural College, at least one lecture of a general nature was given 
every afternoon. During the " county superintendents' week," 
an additional series of lectures was given by F. W. Howe, then 
of the United States Department of Agriculture, now state 
supervisor of agricultural education for the New York Educa- 
tion Department. 

At the University of Illinois, a two days' " conference on the 
teaching of agriculture in the common schools" was held late in 
March, 1910, at which twenty-five short papers were given The 
subject was considered from the standpoint of the university, 
the normal school, the county superintendent, the school direc- 
tor, the practical farmer, and the woman in the home. A com- 
mittee was appointed to report on a plan for an eight-grade 
course of instruction in agriculture at a conference to be held 
the following winter while the " short courses " were in session 
at the agricultural college. 

The connection between the subject matter of agriculture and 
the public school is made, as suggested, in two ways. One by 



Preparation and Salaries of Teachers in High Schools 115 

a combination of technical courses in agriculture and educa- 
tion ; the other by courses in agricultural subject matter, organ- 
ized with special reference to the needs of public school teachers, 
and including as much incidental pedagogy as the fitness or 
inclination of the instructor may permit. 

In universities having technical courses in both agriculture 
and education, the question is one chiefly of administration. 
The separate agricultural colleges have begun to solve the prob- 
lem by creating departments to present some of the fundamental 
work in education. This has been done by the state agricultural 
colleges of Indiana (Purdue University), Kansas, Massachu- 
setts, Michigan, Mississippi, North Dakota, and doubtless others. 
The departmental instruction has, so far, generally been given 
by men trained in the history and philosophy of education and 
with more or less experience in school administration. More 
often than not, their special training in agriculture or natural 
science has been slight. 

The second plan is now followed less exclusively than formerly 
in several state universities, which are effecting a closer union 
between the technical courses in agriculture and education, and 
is now being used rather to supplement that combination. Good 
instances of this change are furnished by the state universities 
of Illinois, Missouri, and Wisconsin. All of these, as well as 
the Massachusetts Agricultural College, offer courses usually 
designated as " agricultural education." Oklahoma Agricul- 
tural College has, and University of Tennessee had, an official 
whose function is, in a way, similar to that of the newly 
appointed supervisor of agricultural education in the New York 
Education Department. In most of these cases, the amount of 
pedagogical training has probably been commensurate with the 
scientific attainments of the professors of education in the sep- 
arate state agricultural colleges. 

It will be seen then that the term " agricultural education " 
is used in widely different senses ; in some cases meaning prin- 
ciples of education when taught in a college of agriculture, and 
in other cases meaning principles of agriculture when taught 
in a college of education. These two kinds of work should be 
differentiated by being called respectively, " principles of edu- 



ii6 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

cation " and " public school agriculture," or their equivalents. 
There is also room for an intermediate treatment with a broader 
outlook than either, which might be called "philosophy of agricul- 
tural education" with its complement "methods of agricultural 
education." The short and expressive term of "agricultural edu- 
cation" more properly belongs to such a synthetic treatment 
than to work of college grade usually passing by that name. 



CHAPTER VI 
SPECIAL SECONDARY SCHOOLS OF AGRICULTURE 

It is the opinion of the commission that there is a demand in various 
agricultural sections for schools which shall be devoted to specialized 
work, object lessons, and such practical courses as have a direct bearing 
on farm life for both boys and girls. — Massachusetts Commission on 
Industrial Education. 

No attempt is here made to give a complete account of the 
technical secondary schools of agriculture, but to draw such a 
sketch of the schools of this class as will make clear the dis- 
tinction between their organization and work and that of the 
general public high school, and show the variety existing among 
the special schools themselves. 

Sample courses of study and something of the equipment of 
the schools are here given, also some facts about the educational 
preparation of the principals, the size of the faculties, and the 
salaries of the agriculturists. Some interesting data are included 
regarding the students, the extent of their preparation on enter- 
ing, the number who live at home and travel back and forth 
every day, and the number of those who live away from home, 
either boarding in the school dormitories or in homes in the 
town where the school is located. 

Types of Special Schools and State Aid 

The special agricultural schools have arisen under a variety 
of legislative enactments. The size of the district in which they 
have been or may be established also shows a wide variation. 
Alabama and Georgia have adopted the congressional district as 
the unit, giving them respectively nine and eleven such schools. 
Oklahoma has adopted the supreme court judicial district as the 
unit, and has established a school in each of the five districts, 
and an additional one in the " Panhandle." The judicial districts 
average about fifteen counties each. 

117 



ii8 Agricultural Instrtiction in the Public High Schools 

Arkansas was divided by its legislature during the past year 
1909 into four agricultural school districts, with from seventeen 
to twenty counties in each, in each of which a school has now 
been located. The county has been adopted as the unit by 
Michigan,^ Minnesota, Mississippi, and Wisconsin. The first 
four leave the establishment of such a school optional with any 
county, while the number that may be established in Wisconsin 
is limited. Two were permitted by the law of 1901 ; this number 
was increased to four in 1903, and to eight in 1907. One school 
of this type has been established in Michigan, but none has been 
in Minnesota. Minnesota has, however, established as a branch 
of the state university a " state agricultural high school " at 
Crookston, which is not supported by any particular district and 
is supposed to minister to the northwestern section of the state 
in general. 

Other state schools established as branches under the control 
of the state agricultural college are those at Davis, Cal., and 
Dahlonega, Ga. Among independent state schools are the Cali- 
fornia Polytechnic School, at San Luis Obispo, Cal. ; the College 
of Industrial Arts (for women) at Denton, Tex.; and three 
schools in New York, two established in connection with col- 
leges, one at Canton, in 1906, and one at Alfred in 1908, and 
one separate school established the latter year at Morrisville. 

New York, by an act which became a law April 22, 1910/ 
amended a law passed in 1908, broadening the powers of cities 
and union free school districts, enabling them to establish 
" schools of agriculture, mechanic arts and home making " as 
well as " general industrial schools and trade schools." The 
authorities are given full powers to provide competent teachers, 
curricula, ground, buildings, and necessary supplies. The state 
grants " to each city and union free school district the sum of 
$500 for each independently organized general industrial school, 
trade school, or a school of agriculture, mechanic arts and home 
making, maintained therein for thirty-eight weeks during the 
school year and employing one teacher whose work is devoted 



' But there is no prospect of the early establishment of such schools 
in other counties than Menominee. 

* Laws of New York, chap. 140, art. 22, sec. 600-607. 



special Secondary Schools of Agriculture 119 

exclusively to such school, and having an enrollment of at least 
twenty-five pupils . . . and an additional $200 for each 
additional teacher employed exclusively in such schools for 
thirty-eight weeks during the school year." 

Massachusetts gives state aid to a school established by private 
benefaction at Northampton ; and its industrial commission is 
trying the plan of converting certain high schools into agricul- 
tural schools, when other schools in the same townships are 
equipped to give instruction in the classics. An example of 
this movement is seen in the course of study being put into 
operation at the Montague High School, now being attended 
by pupils from five neighboring towns. 

Support and Control 

In Alabama the " board of control " consists of the governor, 
the superintendent of education, the commissioner of agricul- 
ture, a secretary-treasurer, a resident member, and one other 
member selected from the district. The amount of state support 
has risen from $2,500 given each of the two schools originally 
established, in 1889, to $4,500 at the present time.^ Each school 
has an experimental farm in its vicinity in charge of a trained 
agriculturist. In three of the schools, the experiment station 
and the instruction in agriculture are in charge of the principal. 
The law requires that $750 of the state appropriation shall be 
expended on the experiment station. The printed course of 
study shows agriculture now required in all four years. Fees 
for tuition, library, or incidentals, range from nothing up to 
$12, with books bought by the students at an average annual 
cost of a little more than $7. Some schools charge a matricula- 
tion fee. The location of these schools is shown in the Table 43. 

The bill providing for the establishment of the eleven dis- 
trict agricultural schools of Georgia, passed in 1906,* provides 
that " they shall be branches of the State College of Agriculture, 



' C. J. Owen, Bulletin 220, Office of Experiment Stations, 1909. A 
full account is here given of the history of the legislation regarding the 
establishment, from time to time, of the other seven schools, and the 
support given to all the district schools. 

* Georgia Statutes, Act. No. 448, p. 72, Aug. 18, 1906. 



120 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

2l department of the University of Georgia," and that " the 
general board of trustees of the university shall exercise such 
supervision as in their judgment may be necessary to secure 
unity of plan and efficiency in said schools." 

The local boards of trustees consist of one member from 
each county of the respective congressional districts, appointed 
by the governor for a term of six years. The schools receive 
the income from the fertilizer, oil, and other inspection fees, 
over and above the expense of such inspections. This amounted 
in 1909 to $7,250 annually for each school. In addition to this 
amount the legislature voted a grant of $2,000 to each school, 
making the total $9,250. The students are charged no fees for 
tuition, laboratory, library privileges or incidentals. They buy 
their own books at an average cost of $7.50 a year. Their board 
amounts to $10 a month, with a rebate of $5 for farm work 
performed according to the requirements of the course of study. 
The local communities provide the necesary land, buildings, and 
equipment. The location of these schools is shown in Table 44. 

The Oklahoma schools of agriculture are under the general 
management of a " state commission of agricultural and indus- 
trial education," consisting of the state superintendent of public 
instruction, the president of the state board of agriculture, and 
the president of the Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical Col- 
lege. The state board of agriculture exercises a general over- 
sight of these schools, while their work is under the more 
immediate direction of a dean of the department of district 
agricultural schools, attached to the college. A condition of the 
location of the schools is that they " shall be provided with not 
less than 80 acres of land without cost to the state and deeded 
in perpetuity to the state. All white citizens over fifteen years 
of age are entitled to admission without entrance examination 
or fees." As a consequence of this statutory provision the 
schools carried on sixth, seventh, and eighth grade work, during 
the first year with as many as thirty in a class. The work of 
the secondary grade extends over three years, and offers nothing 
besides the purely industrial courses and related science, except 
in mathematics, English, civics, and history. One-fourth of the 
$20,000 appropriated for building and maintenance the first 



special Secondary Schools of Agriculture 121 

year, was to be expended for " agricultural experiment in field, 
barn, orchard, shops, and garden."^ 

Each school in Arkansas is controlled by a board of five 
trustees " who shall be intelligent farmers," appointed by the 
governor for a term of ten years. They may fix the rules of 
admission so as to equalize the attendance among the counties. 
They may limit the number to suit the capacity of the school 
but shall not charge tuition. Students must be fifteen years 
of age. An initial appropriation of $40,000 was made for 
each of the four schools to supplement donations from the local 
communities. The law requires that after the first buildings 
are erected and ready for temporary use all work connected 
with the care and operation of buildings, farm, stock, etc., shall 
be performed by the students. 

Another interesting feature is the following provision: 
". . . not later than one year succeeding the opening of 
each school, there shall be established in connection therewith 
a textile school in which shall be taught the art of cotton manu- 
facturing, and other manufacturing should the board of trus- 
tees deem it expedient."* 

The location of these schools is as follows : Jonesboro, in the 
northeastern part of the state, for the first district, Russellville 
in the northwestern part for the second district. Magnolia, in 
the southwestern part, for the third district, and Monticello in 
the southeastern part, for the fourth district. 

In Michigan, county agricultural schools may be established 
by single counties, or by two or more counties jointly. The 
appropriations must be made by the county supervisors. They 
also elect the four members of a county school board, who, 
with the county school commissioner, have charge of the opera- 
tion of the school. Where two or more counties unite to main- 
tain such a school each county furnishes two members of the 
agricultural school board, of which the school commissioner 
of the county in which the school is located is also a member. 
On determining to establish such a school by a two-thirds vote 
of its members, the county supervisors must submit the proposi- 

* Chap. 3, Senate bill 109, p. 13, May 20, 1908, Oklahoma legislature. 
•House bill No. 2, session of 1909, Arkansas general assembly. 



122 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

tion to the voters before issuing bonds or contracting any in- 
debtedness. The only school so far estabhshed under the pro- 
visions of this act of 1907/ is the one at Menomonie, started 
the next year. It is across the river from Marinette, Wis., 
where is located a county agricultural school which opened in 
the year of this legislation. 

The notable experiment in secondary agricultural education 
started by Wisconsin resulted from the report and recommenda- 
tions of the state superintendent, L. D. Harvey, to the legisla- 
ture of 1901 after an extended investigation. The result was 
the authorization of the two schools that started the following 
year, one at Menomonie, Dunn County, and the other at Wau- 
sau, Marathon County. Each school is controlled by a county 
board of three members and is under the general supervision 
of the state superintendent, who " with the advice of the dean 
of the college of agriculture of the State University shall pre- 
scribe the courses of study to be pursued and determine the 
qualifications required of the teachers employed in such schools." 
The original provision was that the state should bear one-half 
of the annual instructional expense of each school, provided 
that not more than $2,500 should be so paid. In 1903 the law 
was amended so that two-thirds of the annual cost of main- 
tenance of each school should be paid out of the state treasury, 
with the maximum limit placed at $4,000, and provided that 
any deficit should be paid by the county. That the counties 
themselves do not pursue a niggardly policy, is evident from 
the annual statements, which show that they not only provide 
their full share of $2,000 but often several hundred more each 
year. The establishment of the school at Winneconne, Winne- 
bago County, two months after the Marinette county school, 
filled up the number authorized by the legislature in 1903. In 
1907 the maximum number was increased to eight.® This addi- 
tional allowance will soon be exhausted as LaCrosse County has 
already established a school at Onalaska, while Brown and 
Langlade counties have voted to establish similar schools. Vil- 



^ Act No. 35, April 3, 1907, [Michigan] public laws. 
'Wisconsin, Laws of 1901, chap. 188, sec. 10; Laws of 1903, chap. 
143, (sec. 5531, Statutes); Laws of 1907, chap. 540, July 10. 



especial Secondary Schools of Agriculture 123 

lages are also authorized to issue bonds to bear part of the 
expense of county schools, not to exceed one-fifth of the cost 
of the school.^ 

No county agricultural high schools have been established in 
Minnesota, although counties are permitted by the legislation of 
1905 to appropriate as much as $20,000 in one year to establish 
and maintain schools of agriculture and domestic economy. Two 
or more counties may unite for this purpose. The county school 
board is composed of the county school superintendent, who 
acts as secretary, and two other members chosen by the county 
commissioners. The relation of the school to the state depart- 
ment of public instruction and to the state college of agriculture 
is the same as in Wisconsin. Tuition is free to residents of 
the supporting counties. 

The legislature of Mississippi, in 1908, enacted a law pro- 
viding that " it shall be lawful for the county school board of 
any county to establish one agricultural school in the county 
for the purpose of instructing the white youth of the county 
in high school branches, theoretical and practical agriculture, 
and such other branches as the board hereinafter provided for 
may make a part of the curriculum."^^ The " board of trustees " 
was to be composed of five members, the county superintendent 
of education, two members elected by the board of supervisors, 
and two by the county school board, to serve four years. The 
annual tax levy was not to exceed two mills, and state aid was 
limited to $1,000 for any one county. 

The supreme court declared the law unconstitutional because 
it did not make equal provision for the establishment of like 
schools for the colored youth. A new act was approved March 
16, 1910, designed to remedy this defect. By its provisions, 
the " board of trustees " is constituted as before, the limit of 
tax levy is the same, but the maximum of state aid is raised 
to $1,500 for any one county, or $3,000 for two counties main- 
taining joint schools. The two counties may unite in maintain- 
ing one school for each race. The joint board is composed of 
eleven members, five chosen from each county as provided in 

•Wisconsin, Laws of 1907, chap. 11, Mar. 16. 

'"Laws of the State of Mississippi, 1908, chap. 102, pp. 92-93, Mar. 21. 



124 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

the case of separate county boards, with an additional member 
chosen by the two boards, or by lot from the two highest in 
the voting. The grant from the state treasury is optional with 
the state board of education, which may not inspect the school 
until certification has been made that the school is provided 
with twenty acres of land and suitable buildings, including a 
dormitory accommodating at least forty persons. 

Section i of the recent act provides for the establishment of 
" not more than two agricultural high schools in the county, one 
for white youths exclusively and the other for colored youths 
exclusively," and adds that " if only one school is established 
at first, the school board shall have the power at any subsequent 
time to establish an additional school whenever the necessity for 
the same shall arise." 

Section 2 prescribes the manner of levying and collecting the 
tax, and provides " further, that within twenty days after a levy 
has been made twenty per cent of the qualified electors of the 
said county may file with the clerk of the board of supervisors 
a petition asking that the tax for the support of either one or 
both agricultural high schools be not levied, then the questions 
shall be submitted to an election of the qualified electors of the 
county within thirty days after the next meeting of the board 
of supervisors after the filing of the petition, at which election 
said electors may vote against the tax levied for the support 
of either one or both schools; and should a majority of the 
votes be cast against the tax levied for the support of either 
one or both schools, then the levy of the board for the support 
of that school or of both schools, as the case may be, shall 
be null and void and the tax collector shall refuse to collect 
such tax so voted against." 

Whether this will enable the voters to support the school 
established for one race, and refuse to permit the establishment 
of the school for the other race, I do not know. 

Six county high schools had been organized before the adverse 
decision of the supreme court stopped further efforts. They 
are located as follows : Bay Springs, Jasper County ; Buena 
Vista, Chickasaw County; Camden, Madison County; Kossuth, 



special Secondary Schools of Agriculture 125 

Alcorn County ; Oakland, Yalobusha County ; and Poplarville, 
Pearl River County. 

The fact that both Latin and Greek are taught in some of 
these schools makes it of doubtful propriety to include them 
with agricultural high schools as strictly defined. 

Reference has been made in Chapter TI to schools of the public 
high-school type which add agriculture to their curricula and then 
appropriate the name " agricultural high school." While in some 
cases such schools may be regarded merely as variants of the 
usual high school with a diversified curriculum, it is hardly fair 
to so regard certain other schools which are really a sort of 
cross between the general high school and the one which is 
exclusively industrial. The fact that the state makes special 
grants to some high schools to establish definite departments of 
agriculture, and that the central authorities organize the work 
instead of leaving its initiation and organization entirely to local 
effort, would seem to place these schools in a class by them- 
selves. But even here we find a very close analogy in the pro- 
cedure of such states, as New Jersey, which give state aid to 
schools maintaining a department of " manual training," or " in- 
dustrial arts," depending in amount on the money spent by the 
local board. In no case, however, do we find these schools 
calling themselves manual training or industrial schools, when 
they carry on all the other work usually taught in high schools. 

Schools are rapidly being reorganized on this plan in Louisi- 
ana, Minnesota, and Virginia. 

To many thoughtful educators, especially to those in sympathy 
with the views of Dean Davenport,^^ of the University of 
Illinois, this intermediate type of school may seem more desirable 
than the Wisconsin type, combining the strong points of the 
latter with those of the general high school, and avoiding the 
disadvantages of both. 

State secondary schools of agriculture other than those organ- 
ized in connection with the agricultural colleges and using their 
equipment, have been established in but three states, as already 
mentioned. These are more or less dependent upon such appro- 

" Education for Efficiency, 1909, chap. V and VI. 



126 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

priations from year to year as the legislatures may be prevailed 
upon to grant. Such legislative appropriations are apt to be 
larger to these individual schools than is the share given each 
of the several schools of a group or class, all established within 
a short period. 

The California Polytechnic School, at San Luis Obispo, is 
governed by a board of seven trustees, of which the governor 
and state superintendent of public instruction are ex officio 
members. While about half the students come from San Luis 
Obispo County, the central and southwestern counties are rather 
generally represented. The school was established in 1901 by 
act of the legislature, which has liberally supported it and has 
enabled it to add to its holdings and buildings as its growth 
demanded. For instance in 1907, about v$8o,ooo was voted for 
improvements over and above the running expenses. While 
there are no tuition fees, laboratory fees of $15 are charged for 
all courses. Text-books and supplies cost about $15 more. 

The state university supports a secondary school of agricul- 
ture at the University Farm at Davis, started in 1908. For its 
purchase and equipment, the legislature appropriated $132,000 
the previous year. 

The University of Minnesota has also established a branch 
agricultural school some distance from its college of agricul- 
ture. The Crookston School of Agriculture, as it is known, 
is theoretically a high-school department of the college of agri- 
culture, ranking with the " State Agricultural High School," 
as it is called, which is maintained at St. Anthony Park, near 
the college of agriculture at St. Paul. The school at Crookston 
supposedly gives the same course as is given at the parent sec- 
ondary school with such variations as local demands necessitate. 
The first superintendent regarded it as the special school for 
the Ninth Congressional District, including the Minnesota side 
of the Red River Valley, although the school is open to resi- 
dents of the state generally.^- The Crookston school is under 
the control of the regents of the university as represented in 
the management of the college of agriculture. Its budget seems 
to be separate, and appropriations are made specifically for it 

" Wm. Robertson in Minnesota Farm Review, Sept., 1908, p. 164. 



special Secondary Schools of Agriculture 127 

by the legislature. The first appropriation was made in 1905, 
$15,000. In 1907, $65,000 was appropriated for a dormitory, 
dining hall, and an industrial building. The fees are : matricula- 
tion, $5, book rent for those not desiring to buy books, $2, 
depreciation of room furnishings, $2, board and room, $15 a 
month. 

New York established its first " school of agriculture " in 
July, 1906 at St. Lawrence University, Canton. Eighty thousand 
dollars was appropriated for a building. While the school is 
maintained by the state, its affairs are administered by the trus- 
tees of the university. The charter under which it operates has 
been amended to restrict the agricultural instruction to element- 
ary and practical courses. 

A like amount was appropriated in 1908 for a similar school 
at Alfred University, at Alfred. Five thousand dollars of this 
was available for the first year's maintenance, after which the 
annual maintenance fund is to be $10,000. 

The amount granted the same year for the establishment of 
the agricultural school at Morrisville was $20,000. In 1910 
the state appropriated $59,275, and the title to a group of former 
county-seat buildings has been transferred to the state. The 
school opened in October, 1910. 

As these are isolated schools that cannot be advantageously 
grouped for consideration according to a general plan, they will 
not be treated at length. The schools of Alabama, Georgia, Okla- 
homa, Wisconsin, and Michigan, however, do admit of com- 
prehensive treatment on the group plan. The description here 
given will enable the reader to make some comparison of the 
plan, scope, and work of these types of agricultural schools, 
representing different local conditions of wealth and culture. 

Organization, Curriculum, and Equipment 

In their most complete development, the special agricultural 
schools have as the most prominent feature of organization, a 
three-fold division of the industrial work, namely, departments 
of agriculture, manual training, and home economics, with the 
academic studies forming a subsidiary part of the school curricu- 
lum. The latter studies are designed to prevent the education 



128 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

of the student from proceeding along too narrow lines and 
to remedy deficiencies in general culture usually quite obvious. 
Rural high schools, instituting industrial work under special 
legislative authority, and some of those schools doing so in the 
absence of special legislation, show a tendency to follow the 
same plan. 

The Alabama Congressional District Schools 

The congressional district agricultural schools of Alabama 
have been greatly benefited by a standardization made possible 
by the Association of Presidents and Agriculturists of the nine 
district schools, organized in 1907. One result of their labors 
is the course of study here given, which went into operation in 
the fall of 1909. Before that time there had been no uniformity 
as to the requirement or election of Latin, agriculture, or the 
amount of time for the latter. Nor were the entrance require- 
ments the same. In 1909 five schools reported that the sixth 
grade was the highest that all of their students had completed. 
Other schools reported the requirements then in effect as being 
as high as the completion of the eighth grade. The course here 
given is based on seven years of elementary work. 

The percentages given below show what proportion the class- 
room work in agriculture and related sciences is of the total 
class-room work, and what proportion all the agricultural work, 
including the two hours a week on the experiment station, is 
of the total time required of the student in the class room, labora- 
tory, and in the field. 

Table 43 
Time Given to Agriculture in Proportion to Other School Work 



Proportion of class work 

Proportion of all time including 
farm work 



First 
year 



Per cent 
22 

31 



Second 
year 



Percent 

22 

31 



Third year 



First 
term 



Per cent 
9 

19 



Second 
term 



Per cent 
19 

28 



Fourth 
year 



Per cent 
25 

32 



special Secondary Schools of Agriculture 



129 



CURRICULUM OF THE CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT AGRI- 
CULTURAL SCHOOLS OF ALABAMA" 

\(a) and (6) placed after a subject indicate first and second semester, respectively.] 



Agricultural-scientific course 


Agricultural-classical course 


Subjects 


Periods 
per 
week 


Subjects 


Periods 
per 
week 



English grammar and composition 

Arithmetic 

Algebra 

English history 

Physical geography 

Elementary agriculture 

Practical work 



First Year 



Substitute Latin for English history 
and physical geography 



English 

Algebra 

Ancient history 

Physiology 

Soils and crops (a) 

Agricultural botany (6) . . 
Practical work in each. 



Second Year 



Substitute Caesar for physiology. 



English literature 

Plane geometry 

Arithmetic reviewed (a) 

Pedagogy (b) 

Mediaeval history (a) 

Modern history (6) 

Physics with laboratory work 

Stock lectures and agricultural lit- 
erature (a) 

Horticulture (6) 

Agricultural botany (b) 

Practical work each term 



Third Year 



Substitute Cicero for stock lectures 
and agricultural literature during 
first semester 



American literature 

Solid geometry (a) 

Plane trigonometry (b) 

American, history, civics 

Chemistry with laboratory work . . . 
Agriculture (o) dairying, soils, and 

'.. fertilizers 

(b) Agricultural literature or 
farm accounts 



Fourth Year 



(May substitute Virgil for soils, fer- 
tilizers and agricultural litera- 
ture) 



Notes. — Ml students must work two hours a week on the experiment station. Courses 
are offered the Rirls in music, expression, and art. One school offers courses in home eco- 
nomics. One school has a complete woodworking outfit, costing $1,500. Two schools 
have commercial courses. 



"This program of studies and the next table are adapted from the 
report of President C. J. Owens, Bulletin No. 220 of the Office of Experi- 
ment Stations, with information from the individual school catalogues. 



130 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

This course gives about 17 periods of, perhaps, 40 minutes 
each a week, for each of the four years, or 12 hours of class- 
room work other than agricultural, and about 5 periods, or 3^ 
hours of industrial work, with 2 hours' work on the experiment 
station. 

It will thus be seen that these schools act more or less as 
commercial and finishing schools for their respective districts. 
Physical and chemical laboratories are specifically mentioned for 
five schools, school gardens on the campus for three, school 
gardens and experimental plats on farms near the school in two 
other cases ; farm dwellings are mentioned in the case of four 
schools, live stock for six, and barns, or live stock implying 
barns, in the case of seven schools. One reports a full poultry 
outfit, and another reports a dairy. The total value of all plants 
is $222,500. Literary societies are reported by eight schools, 
and athletic organizations by four, one of these also reporting a 
military battalion. 

Other items are tabulated below. 

Table 44 

Equipment and Facilities of the Congressional District Schools of 

Alabama 



District 



First, Jackson 

Second, Evergreen . . 
Ihird, Abbeville. . . . 
Fourth, Sylacauga. . 
Fifth, Wetumpka . . . 
Sixth, Hamilton . . . . 
Seventh, Albertville. 

Eighth, Athens 

Ninth, Blountsville . 



Year 

estab- 
lished 



1896 
1893 
1889 
1897 
1895 
1895 
1894 
1889 
1895 



Acres 

in 
exper- 
iment 
station 



49 

50 

80 

40 

a80 

640 

48 

150 

75 



Acres 

in 
cam- 
pus 



10 



Total c612 

Teachers reported as holding degrees. 



Libra- 
ry 
vol- 
umes 



600 

500 

2,000 



Build- 
ings 
value 



$12,000 
32,000 
32,000 
41,000 



12,000 



Faculty 



Wom- 
Men en 



27 
22 



15 

6 



a Fifteen acres are devoted to the experiment work. 

b The number given is the number of acres devoted to the experiment work. 

c Bulletin of the University of Georgia, Dec, 1909, p. 14, gives a total of 640 acres. 



special Secondary Schools of Agriculture 131 

The Georgia Congressional District Schools 

The congressional district schools of Georgia" act concertedly 
in many ways. Joint meetings are held by the various district 
boards of trustees, or their representatives, and by the prin- 
cipals or other representatives of the faculties, to consider mat- 
ters calling for some uniformity of action. 

The board of trustees of the University, in January, 1907, 
adopted certain resolutions regarding the work of the schools. 
A condensed statement of some of these is here given : The 
minimum age of entrance shall be 14 years for boys and 13 for 
girls. The course of study shall be limited to four years of 
forty weeks each, including one year of the common branches. 
The program shall arrange for at least three hours devoted to 
academic work and at least three hours in the laboratory, shop, 
or on the farm, with the program so arranged as to provide, 
by alternation of class and practical work in the morning and 
afternoon, for the continuous operation of the shop and farm. 
Satisfactory labor on the farm or in the shop shall be credited 
to the dormitory account of the students at a fair rate, either 
by the hour, or by the piece. Their account shall also be credited 
with the pro rata of the net profits arising from the farm. One- 
fourth of the students, or as many as the principal shall deem 
necessary, shall be required to remain during vacation to con- 
tinue the operation of the farm and shop. The schools are 
required, so far as practicable, to provide short courses for 
adults. The state farmers' institute director is expected to con- 
duct institutes at the schools and to use the instructors in the 
various county institutes. 

Eight schools report paying the students at the rate of ten 
cents an hour and one at seven cents. The schools not allowing 
credit for student work are two of the three charging low rates 
for board, so that it is more or less evened up. All schools 
allow pay for work beyond the nine hours which they may de- 

" Most of the information regarding matters of administration is 
from the report of the Board of Trustees of the University of Georgia, 
issued July, 1907, and the first annual report of the agricultural schools, 
by Professor J. F. Stewart, of the University, issued December, 1909. 
The student statistics are partly from the latter, partly from my own 
returns from the schools, and partly from their catalogues. 



132 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

mand. Student labor has been used in building barns, engine 
houses, water towers, and roads, outside the routine work. 

CURRICULUM OF THE CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT AGRI- 
CULTURAL SCHOOLS OF GEORGIA 

First Year 
Class-room work: 

English periods 4 

Arithmetic do 4 

United States history do 3 

Geography (a) political, (b) physical, (c) commercial do 3 

Penmanship and spelling do 2 

Agricultural science (a) structure and physiology of plants, 
(b) environment and reproduction of plants, (c) soils, (for 
boys) do 3 

Practicums: 

Laboratory work with plants. Plat work, gardens (elective 

for girls) hours 3 

Farm mechanics (free-hand and mechanical drawing, all) 

(b and c) drawing, bench and carpentry work (boys) do 3 

Home economics (a) sewing, (b) cooking, (c) sewing and 

laundry do 3 

Class-room work, 19 periods for boys do 12J 

Class-room work, 16 to 19 periods for girls. 

Laboratory, garden and shop work, for boys do 9 

Laboratory, garden and shop work, for girls do 6 to 9 

Minimum farm work for boys, and home work for girls do 9 

Second Year 
Class-room work: 

English periods 4 

Mathematics (a) farm arithmetic and accounts, (b and c) 

algebra and farm arithmetic do 4 

Ancient history do 3 

Agriculture, forestry and horticulture do 2 

Agriculture (a) soils and fertilizers, (b and c) farm crops (for 

boys) do 3 

Practicums : 

Laboratory (a) soil experiments and farm crop systems, (b) 
plants, judging, grafting, etc., (c) early fruits and veg- 
etables hours 3 

Plat work (a) gardens, (b) manures and winter crops, (c) 

gardens and spraying of fruits do 3 

Farm mechanics (a and b) plants for farm structures, car- 
pentry, (c) farm blacksmithing (for boys) do 3 

Home economics (a) sewing, (b) cooking, (c) household emer- 
gencies do 3 

Class-room work, 16 periods for boys do lOf 

Class-room work, 13 periods for girls do 8f 

Laboratory, garden, and shop work, for boys do 9 

Laboratory, garden, and shop work, for girls, hours doubtful .... do 6 

Minimum farm and home work do 9 



special Secondary Schools of Agriculture 133 

Third Year 
Class-room work: 

English periods 4 

Algebra (fall term) do If 

English history do 2 

Physics do 3 

Agriculture (a and b) animal husbandry, (c) dairying do 3 

Home science (for girls) do 3 

Practicums: 

Laboratory, agricultural physics, soils, farm and dairy ma- 
chinery hours 3 

Field work (a) crops, stock judging, (b) care of stock, breeds 

of stock, (c) study of farm buildings do 3 

Mechanics (a) blacksmithing, plumbing, steam fitting, (b) 

farm machinery, (c) building construction, concrete work, do 3 

Home economics (a) sewing, millinery, (b) cooking, (c) sew- 
ing, hygiene do 3 

Class-room work (a) 16 periods, (b and c) 11 periods. 
Class-room work (a) 16 periods, (b and c) lOf hours and 7J hours. 

Laboratory, field, and shop work for boys do 9 

Minimum farm and home work do 9 

Fourth Year 
Class-room work: 

English periods 4 

Geometry do 4 

Civics (a) 3 periods, (b) 2 periods do 2 

Chemistry do 3 

Agriculture (a) rural engineering, (b) farm management, (c) 

rural economics do 3 

Home science do 3 

Practicums: 

Laboratory (a and b) chemistry of foods, feed-stuffs, ferti- 
lizers and animal products, (c) bacteriology hours 3 

Field work (a and b) surveying, laying out fields, drains. ... do 3 

Mechanics (a) drawing farm plans, (b) topographic drawing, 

construction of roads hours 3 

Library reading (spring term) do 3 

Home economics (a) sanitation, (b) household decoration, 

planning and management of a home do 3 

Class-room work (a) 17 periods, (b) 16 periods, (c) 14 periods — 

IH, 10|, and do 9^ 

Laboratory, field and shop work for boys, fall and winter do 9 

Laboratory and library reading for boys, spring term do 3 

Laboratory and library reading for girls, fall and winter do 6 

Laboratory and library reading for girls, spring term do 9 

Minimum farm and home work, as before do 9 

A tentative course of study was planned by Mr. D. J. Crosby, 
Specialist in Agricultural Education in the Department of Agri- 



134 



Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 



culture, who outlined the industrial work, and Prof. J. S. Stewart, 
of the department of secondary education, in the University, who 
planned the non-industrial part. This plan was referred to a 
committee, and, on June 19th, was accepted as modified by the 
committee and recommended to the several local boards. 

Modern languages were included in the original plan but 
were eliminated by the committee. It will be noted that as much 
mathematics is included as is usually found in secondary schools. 
These schools must offer it as they prepare for the State Agri- 
cultural College. The catalogues of the schools show local 
variations from the model course of study. Most of the changes 
are minor, usually changes in relative position. Agricultural 
arithmetic does not seem particularly agricultural so far as the 
text would indicate, though texts are written on this basis. The 
industrial trend is more evident from the texts used in the course 
in bookkeeping. In some instances plane trigonometry and sur- 
veying appear. Standard texts in botany appear to be used as 
guides for the class-room work in first-year agriculture. This 
can not be avoided in the present condition of the text-books, 
although some recent texts in " elementary agriculture " include 
a large proportion of technical botany. Physical geography 
occasionally appears as a second-year study, as does also chem- 
istry. 

An examination of the course of study given above shows that 
not only does it provide that a very large proportion of the 
total time of the student shall be spent in industrial work, but 
that a very considerable amount of the class-room work is also 
of this nature, counting agricultural arithmetic and the sciences. 

Table 45 
Time Given to Agriculture in Proportion to Other School Work 



First 
year 



Second 
year 



Third 
year 



Fourth 
year 



Proportion of class work 

Proportion of all time exclusive of farm 
labor 



Percent 
IG 

50 



Percent 

45 

75 



Per cent 
40 



Per cent 
36 

77 



special Secondary Schools of Agriculture 



135 



The above percentages are approximate rather than exact. 
They hold fairly true for the boys, but would vary five to fifteen 
per cent lower for the girls. 

The course averages about 11 periods of 40 minutes each a 
week for each of the four years, or 75^ hours of class-room 
work other than agricultural, and about 1214 hours in industrial 
work, including class work, laboratory, field, or shop practice, 
with a minimum of 9 hours of farm work. 



Table 46 

Data on the Property and Incomes of the Georgia Congres- 
sional District Schools 



District 


Acres 

of 
land 


Value 

of 
land 


Cash 
prom, 
ised (a) 


Value 

,-of 
plant 


Debt. 
1909 


Income, 
1909 (c) 


Pupils 
faU 

term, 
1909 




300 
315 
270 
275 
250 
312 
240 
257 
300 
265 
300 


$15,000 
15,000 
15,000 
13,000 

8,000 
13,000 

8,400 
20,000 

5,000 

8,100 
15,000 


$60,000 
60,000 
40,000 
30,000 
31,000 
51 ,000 

625,000 
40,000 
25,000 
47,000 
55,000 


$100,000 
65,000 
70,000 
60,000 
60,000 
100,000 
40,000 
60,000 
45,000 
52,000 
90,000 


$2,500 
2,000 

4; 600 

10,000 

4,000 

eisoo 

3,500 
4,000 


$11,500 
12,750 
10,250 
13,850 
12,6.50 

rfl2,500 

all, 750 
10,750 
a9,450 

al3,420 
9,250 


56 


Second, Tifton 


50 


Third, Americus 

Fourth, Carrol ton 

Fifth, Monroe 

Sixth, Barnesville 

Seventh, Powder Springs.. 

Eighth, Madison 

Ninth, Clarksville 

Tenth, Granite Hill 

Eleventh, Douglas 


88 
110 
e74 
e43 

66 

22 
e83 

58 
100 


Total 


3,084 


$135,500 


$464,000 


$742,000 


$36,500 


$128,120 


750 







a All but the seventh, ninth, and tenth districts promised free electric light, water for 
five years, and sewage disposal. 

b Promised an academic building and boys' dormitory. 

c Includes farm profits reported by all but one school, gift to one school, and profits 
from boarding department reported by five, as well as the uniform sum of Sg.zso received 
from the state. 

d Approximate, as boarding profits are reported for only fall term. 

e Fifth, sixth, and ninth district schools are one year below the other schools in grade. 

The students cultivated 738 acres of the total acreage of 
3,084. Only two schools employed outside farm help, one man 
each during the year. Two schools rented 45 and 55 acres 
respectively. One hundred and seventy acres were put in cot- 
ton, 415 in grain, and 543 in pasturage and other crops. The 
value of the farm crops for 1909 was $16,050. The eleven 
schools possess 16 barns, 32 mules, 8 horses (five schools), 31 
sheep and goats (three schools), 255 hogs, 855 fowls, and the 
following equipment : 

Farm implements $3,550, ranging from $50 to $800. 

Dairy equipment $935, ranging from $50 to $200. 



136 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

Shop equipment, $2,990, ranging from $60 to $900. 

Laundry equipment, $4,090, ranging from $15 to $2,000 (none 
in three schools). 

Domestic science, $1,715, ranging from $50 to $600. 

One can not help being somewhat surprised at first thought, 
at the relatively small amount of money spent upon the labora- 
tories, including even the agricultural laboratory facilities. Five 
report none, while the remaining six report a total of only $275. 
Six report no chemical equipment, the remaining five report a 
total of $505. Only three schools report physics, with a total 
equipment of $385. The last two items are not surprising, how- 
ever, standing alone, for the schools have not been running long 
enough to put into operation that part of their course of study 
in which these branches occur. Then, too, it is often hard to 
draw the line between apparatus belonging to agriculture and 
to other sciences. 

Eight schools report 1,920 volumes, ranging from 10 to 600 
to the library. The total value is placed at $975, for six libraries 
varying from $25 to $400 each. 

The Oklahoma District Schools 

One of the Oklahoma schools was in operation during the 
year 1908-9, the Murray State School of Agriculture, at Tish- 

Table 47 

Data on the Property and Incomes of the Judicial District Schools 

OF Oklahoma 





Acres 
of land 


Income for year ending — 


Faculty 


District 


June 30, 
1910 


June 30, 
1911 


Men 


Wom- 
en 


First, Warner 


160 
100 
120 
80 
100 

160 


$17,000 
17,000 
12,000 
12,000 
12,000 

5,000 


$14,000 
14,000 
17,000 
17,000 
17,000 

7,000 


4 
4 
4 
4 
4 

4 




Second, Tishomingo 

Third, Broken Arrow. . . . 

Fourth, Lawton 

Fifth, Helena 




Fifth, (" panhandle "), 
Goodwell 


1 






Total 


720 


$75,000 


$86,000 


24 


6 







special Secoitdary Schools of Agriculture 137 

omingo, in the second judicial district. The Conners School, at 
Warner, in the second district, received classes in February, 
1909. The schools for the remaining districts opened for work 
late in the fall of 1909, and attempted to carry on but two terms 
of the year's work. 

The schools possess no dormitories, but they hope to receive 
appropriations for these at the session of the legislature sitting 
during the winter of 1910-11. Each school expects then to have 
a central plant worth about $30,000, exclusive of the land, except 
the school at Helena, which now has a building and equipment 
valued at $50,000, presented to the state. 

The only courses offered are the agricultural and domestic 
economy courses. Each school maintains a three-year course 
in agriculture and home economics, and three years of " prepar- 
atory " work, that of the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades. No 
pupil is admitted to these grades who has similar privileges 
in his home district. Students over sixteen may take certain 
special courses. The older schools are also maintaining " short 
courses " of two weeks for farmers and their wives. These 
include instruction and demonstrations in domestic economy, 
canning, preserving, and cooking, for the women, and various 
agricultural subjects for the men. 

The regular courses comprise for the three years approxi- 
mately 150 periods of recitation work, and 75 hours of prac- 
tical work, averaging for each week, 16^ recitation periods, and 
8^2 hours practice, though the latter is less in the third year than 
during either of the other two. 

The school at Tishomingo enrolled for the year 1908-9, 9 in 
the second year, 24 in the third year, and 64 in the three years 
of the grade work (special course), total 97, averaging 17 years 
of age. These students were drawn from ten counties. The 
faculty numbered 6 teachers. The agricultural work was car- 
ried on by the principal and another agriculturist. 

The school at Broken Arrow opened its doors in November, 
1909, with an enrollment of 176, with 8 instructors and assistants. 



138 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 



Curriculum of Agricultural and Domestic Economy Courses in the 
Judicial District Schools of Oklahoma 



[Figures in parentheses indicate hours of practical work per week, 
indicate first, second, and third term. J 



Letters a, b and c. 



Course in agriculture for boys 


Course in domestic economy 


Subjects 


Hours 

per 

week 


Subjects 


Hours 

per 

week 



English 

Arithmetic (a) 

Algebra (b and c) 

Physiology (a and b) 

Civics (c) 

Stock judging (a) 

Breeds of animals (6 and c) . . 

Drawing 

Carpentry 



English 

Algebra 

History (a and b) 

Agricultural physics (c) . . . . 
Vegetable gardening (a) . . . 

Soils and fertilizers (b) 

Farm crops (c) 

Drawing farm plans 

Agricultural practice (a) . . . 

Farm dairying (6) 

Blacksmithing 

English 

Geometry 

Forestry (a) 

Plant propagation (a) 

Farm economics (a) 

Farm machinery (a and b) . 
Road making (a and b). . . . 

Agricultural practice 

Fruit growing (6) 

Farm dairying (6) 

Farm accounts (6) 

Entomology (c) 

Feeding and management of 

farm animals (b and c) . . . . 
Diseases and care of farm ani 

mals (c) 



First 

5 

5 

4 

4 

5 
(2) 

3(4) 
(2) 
(4) 



Year 

English 

Arithmetic (a) 

Algebra (6 and c) 

Physiology (a and b). . . 

Civics (c) 

Agricultural botany (a) . 
Social culture (6 and c) . 

Drawing 

Cooking 

Sewing 

Laundry (6) 



Second Year 

4 English 

5 Algebra 

4 History (a and 6) 

4 (2) Farm crops 

3(2) Cooking 

3 Sewing 

3 (2) Farm crops (c) 

(2) Drawing 

(2) Household art 

(2) Farm dairying (6) 

(4) 

Third Year 

4 English 

5 Geometry 

3 Forestry (a) 

(2) Plant propagation (a). . 

3 Invalid cooking (a) . . . . 

1 (2) Domestic hygiene (a) . . 

1 (2) Home nursing (a) 

(2) Home management (b). 

3 Domestic chemistry (b). 

(4) Millinery (b) 

(4) Farm dairying (b) 

3 Home economy (c) . . . . 

Entomology (c) 

3 (2) Floriculture (c) 

Dressmaking (c) 

3(2) 



5 
5 

4 
4 
5 

3(2) 

1 
(2) 
(4) 
(4) 
(2) 



4 
5 

4 
3(2) 

(4) 

(4) 
3(2) 

(2) 
1 

(2) 



4* 

5 

3 



(2) 
(4) 



(4) 
(4) 
(4) 



(4) 



special Secondary Schools of Agriculture 139 

The Wisconsin and Michigan County Agricultural Schools 

The county schools of Wisconsin and Michigan stand in a 
class by themselves, not only in regard to amount of state aid 
given, but also in the character of the curriculum. They show 
very few traces of the literary or academic influence. They lack 
only the large amount of ground possessed by other schools 
and the farm work entailed to make them the most intensely 
vocational of all the publicly supported agricultural schools. 
Taking pupils who for the most part have finished the eighth 
grade, they plunge immediately into a variety of lines of agri- 
cultural theory. It is very seldom that we find the students 
of other schools taking up the various special phases of animal 
husbandry, such as stock judging and dairying, in the first year. 
The Guthrie County High School, of Iowa, is the only other 
important one here recalled that is a public high school. The 

CURRICULUM OF MARATHON COUNTY SCHOOL OF AGRICUL- 
TURE 

[The letters in parentheses (a, b, and c) indicate fall term, winter term, and spring term, 

respectively.] 

First Year Periods 

Plant husbandry: (a) Agricultural botany; (b) plant manipulation; 

field crops; (c) fruit growing; (d) gardening 3 (4) 

Animal husbandry: (a) Breeds— dairy and beef cattle; (b) dairy- 
ing, poultry; (c) breeds — horses, sheep, swine 3 (4) 

Manual training: (a) Free-hand drawing; (b) joining; (c) cabinet 

making (10) 

English 5 

Geography (a) 5 

Arithmetic (6) 5 

Bookkeeping (c) 5 5 

Second Year ^^ *^^^^ 

Plant husbandry: (a) Soil physics; (b) soil fertility; (c) special crops 3 (4) 
Animal husbandry: (a) Feeding and breeding; (b) creamery; (c) 

stock farming 3 (4) 

Manual training: (a) Forging; (b) rural architecture; (c) rural engi- 
neering (10) 

English literature 5 

Chemistry (a) 5 

History {b and c) 5 5 

Class-room work, each year, 16 periods, or lOf hours. ^ -^ 

Class-room work, two years, 32 periods, or 21 J hours. 
Laboratory, shop, and field practice, each year, 18 periods, or 12 hours. 
Laboratory, shop, and field practice, two years, 36 periods, or 24 hours. 



I40 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 



Marathon and Dunn County schools were the first estab- 
lished. Their courses of study may be taken as typical of all, 
the differences being merely in minor changes in the position of 
different branches. The curriculum of the Marathon County 
school is given in full, because it needs less changing than the 
others in order to make it comparable with other curricula given. 

The following percentages show what proportion the class- 
room work in agriculture and related science is of the total 
class-room work, and what proportion all the agricultural work 
is of the total time required of the student in the class-room, 
laboratory, shop and field : Proportion of class-room work in 
each year, 37 per cent; proportion of all the time in each year, 
71 per cent. 

While practically the same subject matter is included in the 

Dunn County school's course of study, it is broken up into 

smaller units and scheduled fewer times a week. They are 

arranged with reference to four terms of eight weeks each. 

Below are given the percentages of the time occupied by the 

agricultural subjects, with a sample program for one of the 

eight terms. 

Table 48 

Time Given to Agriculture in Proportion to Other School Work 







First 
term 


Second 
term 


Third 
term 


Fourth 
term 


First year: 

Class-room work 

All time 


Per cent 

47 
75 

84 
90 


Per cent 

33 
72 

86 
93 


Per cent 

33 

72 

86 
93 


Per cent 

70 

85 

76 
76 


Per cent 

50 
75 


Second year: 

Class-room work 

All time 


88 
90 







Program of the Dunn County School for the Third Term of the 

Second Year „ . , 

PenoQS 

Literatm-e 2 

Library reading 2 

Hogs 3 

Seeds and germination, green house 1 

Shrubs, trees, and planting 3 

Birds and insects 2 

Emergencies 4 

Creamery practice 2 



special Secondary Schools of Agriculture 141 

Faculties of the Special Agricultural Schools 

There seems to be no uniformity of practice in choosing prin- 
cipals for the special agricultural schools. The southern schools 
do not incline to elect agriculturists to these positions. In only 
three of the nine Alabama schools is the agriculturist also the 
principal. One principal reported that he taught four other 
classes a day in addition to those in agriculture. Six of the 
II principals of the Georgia schools are not agriculturists, but 
teach the non-industrial branches. Of the remaining 5, only 3 
are plainly listed as teachers of agriculture, i is " principal and 
superintendent" (with 5 assistants), and i is "principal, assist- 
ant to all the departments, and general supervisor and director." 
The county schools of Michigan and Wisconsin, with one excep- 
tion, have agricultural college graduates for principals. One 
of the Oklahoma schools has an agriculturist for principal. 

The faculty roll of the Crookston School of Agriculture shows 
a superintendent and instructors in academic branches, mechan- 
ics, home economics, poultry, dairying, and music. 

The California Polytechnic School, with a faculty of 16, be- 
sides the farm foreman and dairyman, has a specialist in English 
as principal and a mechanical engineer as vice-principal. The 
former principal was an agriculturist. About half of the stu- 
dents take the mechanics course, while the other half is divided 
almost equally between agriculture and home economics. 

Incomplete returns from the so-called " district agricultural 
schools " in Virginia point to a strong tendency to appoint agri- 
culturists as heads of agricultural departments rather than as 
principals of the schools. This may properly enough be in 
recognition of the fact that these schools serve as college 
preparatory schools and as normal training schools for their 
respective localities, as well as agricultural schools. 

Thirteen agriculturists, who are principals of as many special 
schools, receive from $1,000 to $2,400, averaging $1,723. A 
somewhat smaller number, serving as assistants or instructors, 
receive from $583 to $1,800, averaging about $1,100. The two 
extremes, in this case, were found in the same school. In only 
two instances, was this average for the instructor exceeded by 



142 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

the salaries of agriculturists teaching in public or general high 
schools, in one case by the salary of a man engaged for a 
limited period to organize the school, and in the other instance, 
by that of an instructor in a county high school of the Northwest. 
The number of men and women teaching in these special 
schools is shown in Table 49. In this table is also shown the 
number of persons in each state who are teaching the industrial 
subjects. Especially noticeable is the disparity between the Ala- 
bama schools with but little more than 20 per cent of their 
teachers so engaged, and the Wisconsin schools with over 85 

per cent. 

Table 49 

Faculties of the Special Agricultural Schools for Counties 
AND Congressional Districts 



State 


Number 

of 
schools 


Teachers employed 


Teachers of indus- 
trial subjects 




Men 


Women 


Total 


Number 


Per cent 


Alabama 


9 
11 

1 

6 

64 


27 
35 

2 
24 

9 


15 

al8 

2 

6 

6 


42 
53 
4 
30 
15 


9 
31 

3 
22 
13 


21 


Georgia 


59 


Michigan 

Oklahoma 

Wisconsin 


75 

73 

87 


Total 


31 


97 


47 


144 


78 


54 



a One of these gives possibly less than half-time to teaching. 
b One school not reporting. 



CHAPTER VII 

PROBLEMS OF AGRICULTURAL INSTRUCTION IN 
THE SECONDARY SCHOOL 

Agriculture and the Existing School System 

To insure an efficient general system of agricultural education 
of the secondary type, it is necessary to adopt a policy that shall 
be adequate and far-reaching, and which shall remedy the defects 
of our schools as they exist to-day without diminishing their 
usefulness. If we may judge by the discussion now going on, 
the determination of such a policy is a matter of considerable 
difficulty. 

We have at the outset, in order of time, the proposition to 
make the teaching of agriculture in the elementary schools 
compulsory. This has not proved as satisfactory as its pro- 
ponents had hoped, and would probably be no more so in the 
existing high schools. 

Instruction in manual training has been given a decided 
impetus in some states by state appropriations, especially where 
made dependent upon the amount of the local expenditure. It 
seems reasonable to suppose that some such stimulus would 
greatly promote industrial work of the pronounced rural type. 
While it has not done so to any considerable degree in Maine,^ 
it has been very successful in Minnesota and Virginia. The 
most notable application of this principle of state encourage- 
ment has been the aid given to the special agricultural schools, 
where different localities in a congressional district have com- 
peted with each other in offering land and money to furnish 
the plant of a school for the district, and where counties have 
continued to share the running expense of county schools in 
order to insure their continuance. The requirement for a stand- 



* See Chap. II, p. 2 i. 



144 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

ing in agriculture on the elementary teacher's certificate has 
roused many high schools to the necessity of making as great 
an effort to help their graduates to " pass " in this subject as 
they make in the other common branches by the so-called " re- 
views." In certain southern states this has been, in the ordinary 
high school, merely book work of the most formal type. In 
such states as Nebraska and Michigan, where 150 or more 
high schools have normal training classes, the preparation in 
agriculture is often of a grade that will compare favorably with 
the preparation to teach the other subjects, and has in it a large 
observational and experimental element. In New York state 
the same forces are beginning to exert a strong influence, though 
probably not yet resulting in such efficient work, on the average, 
in the forty or more training classes that have undertaken to 
give some work in agriculture. 

Aside from the question of the efficiency of agricultural teach- 
ing in particular, there are probably 200 or 300 small high 
schools with not more than two teachers each, mostly in Mis- 
souri, Nebraska, and Ohio, in which agriculture is taught as 
well as any of the other sciences in the same schools. Conse- 
quently any criticism of the agricultural work in these schools 
must lie against the school as a whole and not against the 
subject. Furthermore, in Nebraska there is a large number of 
first-class, well-equipped high schools, in which agriculture is 
probably taught as well as the other sciences that pass muster 
with the university inspectors, and better than it is in many 
normal schools. The work of these schools and of other more 
widely scattered cases in New York, Indiana, Michigan, Minne- 
sota, North Dakota, Iowa, Kansas, Utah, and California, demon- 
strates conclusively that agriculture can successfully take its place 
as a year or as a half-year study with the other branches of 
the high-school curriculum. 

The work of township schools, like those of Petersham, Mass., 
Waterford, Pa., North Adams, Mich., and the John Swaney 
School in Putnam County, 111., and such county public high 
schools as those at Calvert, Md., Panora, Iowa, and Dillon, Mont., 
has shown conclusively that agriculture can be made the core 
of a four-year high-school course, on a par with the classical 



Problems of Instruction in the Secondary School 145 

or the English-scientific course, commanding more respect from 
the authorities than the average commercial course, from both 
the vocational and the cultural standpoint. Whether the usual 
public high schools can do such work as well as special schools 
is a matter for the future to decide. 

The Effect of Establishing Special Schools 

The exponents of the special agricultural school urge that this 
is an age of differentiation, of specialization, and that an agency 
devoted to one purpose can fulfil that purpose better than one 
that scatters its energies. The opponents urge, on the other 
hand, that the existing high-school system is sufficiently elastic 
to do this work as effectively as it has accomplished other new 
lines of work delegated to it, and that if the same state or 
national aid is granted to these schools as is proposed for the 
special schools not yet created, they will accomplish the same 
results, and without duplication of plant, of administrative ma- 
chinery, or of teaching force in such lines as will inevitably 
be taught in both kinds of schools, — such studies, for example, 
as English, history, civics, mathematics, and possibly modern 
languages. The opponents of the special school further urge 
that the creation of such schools exclusively for rural pupils 
will take away much needed support from schools now doing 
good work, but which depend for their success upon the com- 
bined support of the village and the surrounding township. They 
point to the successive annual reports of the state departments 
of education to show how rural high schools that were in the 
third grade are now in the second grade, and how others in the 
second grade are now classed as first-grade high schools, and 
claim that this advancement would have been impossible had 
there been special agricultural schools of secondary rank nearby 
to draw off this important clientage. Reference to the figures 
given on the first page of Chapter II will help one to see that 
there may be some force in this contention. It should be re- 
membered that the total there given includes the data from many 
city schools with a low percentage of attendance from rural 
districts. 



146 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

Many readers will recall that this argument has been advanced 
against the normal school's giving academic instruction of sec- 
ondary grade. Under certain circumstances this would seem 
to be a valid objection to the special secondary school. The 
strength of the objection will depend somewhat on the following 
two conditions : Whether pupils are to be able to enter both 
schools with the same preparation, or possibly able to enter 
the special school with less previous schooling, and whether the 
two types of schools enter into active competition for students 
in the same territory by reason of the special school offering 
as wide a range of studies as the high school ; for a few do so 
even now. It has been pointed out by Dr. Thorndike^ and 
others that the small high school could do much better work 
by concentrating its energies on two years of good work instead 
of spreading them over four years of work very indifferently 
done. With the same thought in mind a very sane proposal 
has been outlined in detail by Assistant Secretary Hays,^ of 
the U. S. Department of Agriculture. He urges that when the 
ungraded district schools shall have consolidated they shall offer 
two years' work above the eighth grade, that shall be of a 
general nature, and include agriculture in its more elementary 
phases. Thus these schools will provide communities with two 
years of high-school work that previously have had none, and 
will not exhaust their resources by trying to maintain too pre- 
tentious a course. This has already been done in many rural 
districts. The scheme further provides that the next two years' 
work shall be given in a central school for a large district, say, 
of ten counties, amply equipped to do strong work along special- 
ized lines, namely, agriculture, manual training, and home 
economics. While no definite suggestions have appeared as to 
means of preventing a competition disastrous to these two-year 
high schools, such central agricultural schools could control it 
without friction by refusing to admit pupils into corresponding 
grades who come from townships provided with such ten-grade 
schools, except under exceptional circumstances. This would 

'A Neglected Aspect of the American High School, Ed. Rev., March, 
1907. 

^ Education for Country Life, Office of Experiment Stations Circu- 
lar 84. 



Problems of Instruction in the Secondary School 147 

follow the precedent set by the special schools of Oklahoma. 
But so long as state universities and state departments of edu- 
cation place such manifestly weak four-year schools on their 
accredited lists as they occasionally do, even now, so long must 
we expect local pride to insist on the three- or four-year high 
school, even though it has but one teacher, with the consequent 
outcry against the special agricultural school as the enemy of 
the present public-school system. 

The general high schools maintained by counties and a few 
of the wealthier townships present a somewhat different problem. 
There is no doubt that some of these are doing very strong 
work, a few of them already having experimental plats of 
several acres. Personal observation has justified the conclusion 
that along agricultural lines instruction just as pedagogical, 
equipment just as good, and instructors just as capable, are 
sometimes found in general public high schools, as in some 
agricultural schools existing in the same towns with high schools 
not teaching agriculture ; and that too in spite of the fact that 
the non-specialized high schools teaching agriculture received 
no state subsidy. But we find a parallel to this seeming diffi- 
culty of local high schools duplicating the work of a large dis- 
trict agricultural school in the existence of city normal training 
classes, and county normal training schools working in the 
territory tributory to state normal schools with no jealousy or 
waste of effort, as each ministers to a somewhat different need, 
and both do not succeed in supplying the demand for trained 
teachers. New York with 13 state normal schools, has about 
70 local training classes ; Nebraska's 2 state normal schools are 
supplemented by more than 100 high-school training classes ; 
Michigan with 4 state normals has over 40 training classes ; 
while 24 counties of Wisconsin find that her 7 state normals 
are unable to meet their demands. Whether the establishment 
of special schools would discourage the introduction of agri- 
culture into the regular high schools of the district is a matter 
upon which at present we can not argue from known facts. 

The reader will note that all of the considerations mentioned 
above are purely of an administrative nature. Important argu- 
ments of another sort have been urged both for and against 



148 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

the special school ; on the one hand that the concentration of 
interests in one place would make it more efficient, and that its 
location should be in a rural environment (as many high schools 
located at county seats are not) both for the sake of better 
facilities and of an agricultural " atmosphere." On the other 
hand, we hear that such schools will be undemocratic, that they 
will set up (or down) class distinctions, placing a hampering 
barrier about those who are trained in them, and that their 
students will be deprived of the culture they would gain in the 
present high schools. But it is open to question whether many 
of the cultural studies should be presented to students looking 
forward to an agricultural career in the same manner as they 
usually are now. Mathematics and the sciences are now taught, 
and are treated in the texts, if we may believe the teachers and 
authors, very largely as cultural subjects. Indeed these persons 
often seem jealous of the standing of history, literature, and the 
languages as being cultural subjects. A pertinent suggestion 
has been advanced by State Commissioner Snedden of Massa- 
chusetts that while segregation of agricultural instruction may 
not be advisable as a permanent policy, the special schools may 
be much better able to work out a suitable treatment of the 
entire range of cultural studies by themselves than may the 
general high school hampered by its traditional standards. Such 
a development might call for the introduction of material on 
the history of industrial interests, for the study of political 
economy and the physical sciences with special reference to 
agriculture, and for a reconstruction of secondary-school mathe- 
matics. As yet only a few signs are visible that this is really 
happening in the present technical schools of agriculture. It 
takes a man of broader learning to reconstruct the humanities 
along these lines than the special schools are yet attracting. The 
agricultural high schools occasionally list " agricultural " botany, 
chemistry, or physics. It seems necessary at present for most 
of them to use a standard text supplemented by some technical 
reference work. In two or three cases the instructor is making 
his own text-book. Only one or two of the many catalogues 
at hand show anything but the regulation courses in algebra and 
plane and solid geometry. The exceptions are efforts to intro- 



Problems of Instruction in the Secondary School 149 

duce work in farm accounts, farm surveying, laying out of 
fields, and the determination of slopes for the purpose of fixing 
drainage lines. Just how much of the algebra and geometry 
can be " agriculturized " is not apparent at first sight. Unless 
we propose to throw out all that is inapplicable, that is, the 
bulk of it, the present mathematics must evidently hold its place 
for a supposed disciplinary purpose. 

If we grant the desirability of maintaining separate agricul- 
tural schools in order that they may develop untrammelled their 
own body of cultural material, it is still possible, if we keep the 
goal plainly in view, to bring about an ultimate articulation 
between them and the rural high schools along the lines sug- 
gested by Assistant Secretary Hays. The only procedure neces- 
sary would be for the special school to " raise the standard," 
that is, to lop off its lower grades as soon as the local schools 
seem to be able to offer all the agriculture that the younger 
pupils of the high school may advantageously pursue. That 
this can be done is shown by the action of the Alabama schools 
in dropping the work they formerly carried on below the seventh 
grade. As General Hancock remarked about the tariff, agricul- 
tural education is largely a " local issue." Both the subject 
matter and the administration should be conditioned by the 
environment. One is told in Iowa that neither the boys nor 
the community could be interested in poultry — they were " too 
busy getting rich to bother with chickens." Nor would they have 
been much interested in the Michigan boys' work with the 
polariscope, except as a toy. Iowa was not one of the states, 
however, that reported " animal feeding " as one of the difficult 
topics of instruction. So the form of organization of the facili- 
ties for teaching agriculture might well be modified in different 
sections of the country to meet existing local needs, and to articu- 
late with the existing school system. 

The principal difference of opinion among educators regarding 
the early drafts of the so-called Davis bill has centered around 
this point. In its present form* it proposes " to co-operate with 
the states in encouraging instruction in agriculture, the trades 

* H. R. Bill 20374, 6ist Congress, 2nd Session, introduced by C. R. 
Davis, of Minnesota, February 8, 1910. 



150 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

and industries, and home economics in secondary schools ; 
" by appropriating pro rata $4,000,000 to aid state 
district agricultural schools, $1,000,000 for experiment stations 
attached to them, $5,000,000 " for the maintenance of instruc- 
tion in trades and industries, and home economics and agri- 
culture, in public schools of secondary grade," and $1,000,000 
for similar instruction in state normal schools. The agricultural 
schools are to be not less than one for every fifteen counties 
nor more than one for every five counties or fraction of five 
counties. The bill as at present drawn gives great freedom 
to the proper state authorities to designate any suitable high 
school to receive the aid. An objection to the first draft was 
that it merely stipulated " cities," without fixing the lower limit 
of the population of municipalities free to avail themselves of 
the grant. An objection to the second bill introduced was that 
the federal aid would be open only to high schools of " incor- 
porated villages, towns (not townships), and cities containing 
at least two thousand inhabitants," and even then could " be 
used only . . . for the distinctive studies in mechanic arts 
and home economics," that is, for ** instruction in the non-agri- 
cultural industries and in home making in the city secondary 
schools." How this would have discriminated against many of 
the high schools now attempting such instruction, is indicated 
by the fact that about one-half of the schools in which agricul- 
ture was taught when Mr. Davis's bill was introduced would 
not be eligible to receive any federal aid. It should not be 
claimed, however, that all of these did work deserving recog- 
nition, or even that all w^ould do creditable work if given a grant. 

As already hinted, the contemplated special schools could par- 
tially supply the deficiency of small but well supported high 
schools in the South and supplement them in the North and West. 

One of the arguments raised against the special school has 
been the disadvantage of sending the youth from home, both 
on account of their removal from the influence of the farm life 
while away at school, and on account of the evil influences and 
distractions of the city. In reference to this point, more or 
less complete views were obtained from the principals of twenty- 
two special schools of all types in response to the following ques- 



Problems of Instruction in the Secondary School 151 

tions : ( i ) Do you seem to see any undesirable effects caused 
by town attractions on those pupils living away from home? 
(2) Do you think it would be better if all could (a) live at 
home and attend as " day scholars," or (b) board in town, or 
(c) be housed in school dormitories? 

Fifteen respondents expressly favored dormitories and two 
others apparently do, as their schools are erecting such build- 
ings ; two found the village accommodations very satisfactory ; 
and one favored students living at home. Only two seemed to 
notice bad effects from village associations. Ten failed to see 
any such effects, often remarking on the essentially rural char- 
acter of the location of the school. Five others stated that their 
schools were in the country, so that the question did not apply. 
One believed the school should be near a city for the sake of 
cultural advantages ; his school is one of those now providing 
a dormitory. 

The summaries given in the following table are pertinent 
to the above remarks. 

Table 50 

Data on Students in Agricultural High Schools 



States 



Alabama . . 
Georgia . . . 
Michigan . 
Minnesota 
Virginia . . 
Wisconsin 





Dormi- 


Board- 


From 


Schools 


tory 


ing 


farm 
homes 






Per cent 


Per cent 


7 district 


no 


50 


75 


11 district 


yes 


677 


c87 


1 county 


no 


20 


71 


1 state 


yes 


92 


95 


1 district 


no 


50 


50 


3 county 


no 


60 


78 



Enroll- 
ment 



al,008 

1,001 

48 

63 

41 

191 



a Two not reporting. 

h Based on the enrollment of 750 in the eleven schools for the fall term 1909. 

c 763 of 874 enrolled in eight schools during the year 1908-9. 



The Attitude of Colleges and Universities 

While public attention seems to be focused on the relation of 
agricultural education of secondary grade to the present system 
of secondary education, its relation to the higher institutions is 
of no small importance. Its dignity and standing in the com- 



152 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

munity will depend to a greater or less degree upon the recog- 
nition given it by the colleges and universities. Cases are known 
where schools have abandoned the work because it could not 
be presented for entrance at the state university, although meet- 
ing with favor among patrons and pupils. 

The separate agricultural colleges, and the agricultural de- 
partments of state universities as well, have not, as a rule, 
set up as stringent entrance requirements as have the private 
literary colleges and the " liberal arts " colleges of the state uni- 
versities. The agricultural colleges have been filled with a desire 
to use their plants, the only facilities for agricultural instruc- 
tion which the states have had until recently, to their utmost 
capacity for the good of their constituencies. While they have 
taken students with less scholastic attainments than have the 
literary colleges, the agricultural colleges still have had to take 
them from the same public school system. Few if any condi- 
tions have been prescribed that would not be required for en- 
trance into the literary colleges. The agricultural colleges have 
gladly taken any farmer boy with a classical course, and with 
no high-school science, for the village schools probably teach 
the classics less badly than they do or would teach science. 
Nearly every state university is liberal about accepting various 
combinations of well-taught high-school sciences, with certain 
minimum requirements in history, language, and mathematics. 

Agriculture as a high-school subject is comparatively new. 
The agricultural colleges could not well avoid accepting it as 
an entrance subject and have, with a few exceptions, gladly 
done so. The departments of arts, letters, and science, of the 
state universities, have, however, looked upon it with suspicion, 
while private colleges have, almost without exception, refused 
to have anything to do with it. Within the last two years the 
college attitude toward the subject has grown much more favor- 
able. Up to this period probably not one of the larger uni- 
versities could be found willing to accept it for entrance to 
any but the agricultural college. So rapidly is this change in 
feeling going on that one set of responses regarding the official 
recognition given agriculture is scarcely all in before the infor-- 



Problems of Instruction in the Secondary School 153 

mation is out of date and unreliable.^ In most cases such in- 
formation has been received from the accrediting officer of the 
institution, though sometimes from officers of instruction. The 
following statement shows the recent attitude of the leading 
universities of the upper Mississippi Valley, and of a few others 
outside this territory. It will be noted that several institutions 
have not had to face the problem of passing on this question, 
but are inclined to allow the subject an opportunity to justify 
itself. 

Ohio. Any college of Ohio State University conferring de- 
grees will accept year and half-year courses based on Bailey's 
or Jackson and Dougherty's texts. 

Miami University will accept work based on the latter text. 

Indiana. The subject has never been presented for entrance 
to the University of Indiana, but would probably be accepted 
from a " commissioned high school " teaching it as one of the 
four regular studies constituting a year of high school work. 

Purdue University. " Purdue has no specific arrangement by 
which high school agriculture is accepted as entrance subject, 
yet it is tacitly understood that the botany offered for entrance 
may be agricultural, in fact from some of the high schools 
it is largely so." (This is the state agricultural and mechanical 
college of Indiana.) 

Illinois. The various degree-conferring departments of the 
University of Illinois will accept year and half-year courses. 

The University of Chicago would probably accept " scientific " 
agriculture, in which the underlying principles are studied by 
laboratory methods in and out of doors. 

Michigan. The catalogue of the University of Michigan does 
not include agriculture among the subjects that may be pre- 
sented for entrance credit. The dean of the department of lit- 
erature, science, and the arts thinks that credit should not be 
allowed for it in this department " in that we teach no agricul- 

* Consult the extensive list compiled by the members of the committee 
appointed by the department of rural and agricultural education of the 
National Education Association to investigate the question of college 
entrance credit in high-school agriculture, and reported at the Boston 
meeting, July 7, 1910. 



154 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

ture in this department," and he is " unable to see how a course 
in agriculture would enable a pupil to take up university work 
advantageously.'' 

Wisconsin. One-half year's work may be presented for en- 
trance to the University of Wisconsin under the category of 
" optional work." It may also be presented together with botany 
for a year's credit. 

Minnesota. As yet this work may be presented only in the 
college of agriculture. The university strongly recommends that 
high schools place large emphasis upon the agricultural applica- 
tion of all the sciences taught in the high schools. 

Iowa. The State University of Iowa does not accept agri- 
culture because " the content and character of the courses in the 
very few instances where they are given is so uncertain . . ." 
Exception would doubtless be made to the general rule " in the 
case of a given school in which a course in agriculture had 
become well established under proper conditions including an 
especially prepared teacher, who is a master of the subject not 
only from the content side but also from the pedagogical side." 
The inspector sees no reason why such well organized work 
" should not be credited as substantial high-school work." The 
principal of the Guthrie County High School reports that the 
university inspector regarded the agricultural work in the school 
as being of the same grade as the other science work. 

Missouri. The agricultural college and the teachers college 
are the only departments of the University of Missouri that 
accept agriculture at present. Action by the faculty of the col- 
lege of arts and sciences seems to wait upon the formulation 
by the agricultural college faculty of a unit of agriculture, which 
they had not done at the time of the latest information received, 
July, 1909. The announcement for the summer session for that 
year mentions, however, that certain work offered in agriculture 
will be counted toward the B. S. degree in the teachers college, 
and also that any three of these same courses will be accepted 
by the college of agriculture as one unit for entrance. 

Kansas. In the catalogue of the University of Kansas, agri- 
culture is listed as a half-unit course in the group of industrial 



Problems of Instruction in the Secondary School 155 

subjects, from which one unit may be offered for entrance to 
any course in the college of arts and science leading to the 
bachelor's degree. But the high-school agricultural course must 
first be approved by the university high-school visitor. 

Nebraska. In the University of Nebraska, a half-year's credit 
will be allowed for agriculture offered for entrance into any 
course leading to the A. B. or B. S. degrees or to the degrees 
in pharmacy. 

California. The University of California will accept a half- 
year's work in dairying if presented with chemistry, or a half- 
year's work in horticulture if presented with botany, providing 
the agricultural subjects follow their accompanying sciences dur- 
ing the third or fourth years of the high-school course. In order 
to encourage introductory science in the first year of the high 
school, the university will credit a year's course, the outline of 
which recommends, among other topics, " such elementary scien- 
tific principles as are involved in gardening, including a study 
of soils, and elementary physiography, the weather, simple ma- 
chinery, including the steam engine. 

New York. Cornell University has left the question in abey- 
ance until it " should become a practical one through an appli- 
cation for admission to our college by some candidate proposing 
to offer the subject of agriculture. On the existing state of the 
facts such a candidate [in arts and science] would unquestion- 
ably be credited with that sujaject. Whether we should then 
continue to accept it or should take action similar to that already 
taken by the law and engineering colleges [refusing to accept 
it], I am unable to say." 

Alabama. " The entrance requirements of the University of 
Alabama are now being modified so as to include agriculture. 
Next fall [1909] one unit may be presented for admission." 

Georgia. One or two years of work in agriculture may be 
presented for entrance to any department on a par with other 
sciences. 

Tennessee. The 1908 catalogue of the University of Tennes- 
see gives one " point " (Carnegie Foundation value) for agri- 
culture. The requirements include an elementary text, such as 



156 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

Burkett, Stevens, and Hill, with practical demonstrations and 
experiments in the school garden, or on the farm. The re- 
spondent also adds " practical experience on the farm is also 
counted, and if of two or more years may be sufficient without 
the text book." 

Virginia. Agriculture is not accepted for entrance by the Uni- 
versity of Virginia, although the subject is taught in its summer 
school for high-school teachers. 

The relation of some of the above facts to local conditions 
merits some attention. 

The attitude of the universities, with one exception, is as ad- 
vanced as the state of agricultural instruction in the high schools 
of the respective states, and in many cases is more so. 

Scarcely any candidates seem to have offered agriculture in 
the literary department of universities which would accept it; 
and the other colleges have not been called upon even to pass 
on the question. Possibly this is because the young men who 
could offer agriculture go to the agricultural colleges if to any. 

The number of high schools on the accredited list teaching 
agriculture has been very small in most states. Until the past 
year there have not been more than two or three each in Illinois, 
Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, and Tennessee, 
and scarcely more than half a dozen in Kansas and Wisconsin. 
(The University of Kansas but lately reported favorable to 
accepting agriculture.) A majority of the high schools of 
Indiana and Missouri teaching agriculture are the two-year and 
three-year high schools. Most of those in Ohio, even though 
four-year high schools, are one- and two-teacher schools. Ne- 
braska has for some years made the best showing both in the 
number of schools teaching agriculture, and in the ranking of 
the schools doing so. The status has been changed materially 
within the past year by the introduction of agricultural depart- 
ments in ten Minnesota high schools, and of a four-year course 
in agriculture in eleven Michigan schools. Several of the 
eighty or more New York high schools with agriculture in their 
training classes are also teaching it as a part of the regular 
high-school course. A number of Illinois high schools have 
recently taken teachers from the agricultural college. 



Problems of Instruction in the Secondary School 157 

The California proposition is suggestive in many ways and 
is a distinct contribution to the problem of the introductory 
science in the first year. The Tennessee plan is interesting, but 
probably represents only a transitional phase. 

The action of one faculty was much more advanced than 
the ideas of the head of the department of botany, the line of 
science most closely connected with high-school agriculture. 
Several professors of botany expressed their willingness to 
accept high-school botany with a decidedly agricultural content 
up to a third or half of the total work done, provided the com- 
bined courses extended through an entire year, which seems 
a reasonable position for them to take. 

Below are found the names of subjects that are required to 
receive one unit or one-half unit credit in elementary agricul- 
ture on college entrance requirements in Ohio State University. 
" While in our printed catalogue, our college entrance units do 
not have such a lengthy wording as this, yet it is sufficiently 
comprehensive to include the subjects here named:" 

Elementary Agriculture Accepted as Entrance Credit by 
Ohio State University 
One unit : 

One year given to "Agriculture Through the Laboratory and School 
Garden," by Jackson and Dougherty ; or " First Principles of 
Agriculture," by Bailey. 
Special attention should be given to the plant and its relation to 
the soil — 

The preparation of the seed-bed and germination. 
Soil moisture and temperature. 
Drainage and conservation of soil moisture. 
Plant foods. 
Plant propagation. 
Plant improvement. 

Selection of fruits, vegetables, and cereals best adapted to cli- 
mate, soils, home use, and markets. 
These subjects should be accompanied by recorded experiments 
and observations. 
Special attention should be given to the relation of animal forms 
to plants — 

The beneficial effects of insects. 
Insect pests and insecticides. 
Types of farm animals and their characteristics. 
Care and characteristics of animal products. 
Common scale forms, insects, and types of farm animals should 
be identified. 
One-half unit : 

One-half year's work given principally to the plant and its relation 

to the soil. 
Recorded experiments and observations. 



158 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

Difficulties of the Curriculum 

Relation of Agriculture as a Branch of the High School Curricu- 
lum to the Sciences Already Present 

By far the larger part of elementary agriculture, as judged 
by the amount of space given in text-books and syllabi prepared 
by the school authorities, is made up of the plant phases of 
the subject. Crops and soils, forage crops and feeds, the garden 
and the orchard, these are the things that are mostly considered. 
Undoubtedly most of these lend themselves more easily to field 
observation and laboratory study than do such topics as breeds 
of animals, farm buildings, or good roads. The scientific prin- 
ciples underlying these dominant topics are largely the under- 
lying botanical principles of plant structure, plant nutrition, 
variation of seedlings, and inheritance of characteristics. The 
line of pure science taught in the colleges that comes into closest 
relation with public school agriculture is botany, probably much 
more so than its close competitor, chemistry. The attitude of 
the heads of the departments of botany in the leading universities 
of the rich agricultural states, is not only of interest ; it is of 
importance. As might be surmised, the most cordial sympathy 
is found mostly in those state universities with agricultural de- 
partments, the most conservative note in the universities of states 
maintaining separate agricultural colleges. The following ques- 
tions were asked of the professors of botany in a number of 
the universities : 

"Would botany be acceptable (for entrance) that laid a great 
deal of stress on such agricultural topics as corn judging, seed 
selection, production of new varieties by selection and cross 
breeding, pruning, and grafting, plant diseases and their treat- 
ment, experimentation with fertilizers and soil treatment to 
determine effects on plant growth, weeds, etc. ? Reference is 
made, of course, to such work as deals with these topics in the 
laboratory, field and orchard, not to book work. Do you con- 
sider such work as mentioned desirable in the general botany 
course in a village school ? " 

The answers are all more or less tinged by various concep- 



Problems of Instruction in the Secondary School 159 

tions of the term " agriculture " considered as a high-school 
subject. 

Two writers, viewing it as a purely vocational subject whose 
work must necessarily be given by empirical means, intended 
to teach the art, express views strongly opposed to it. One 
admits, however, that " agriculture following botany, zoology, 
and chemistry, might be well and good," but thinks it " folly 
to attempt to teach children corn judging, etc." 

A third writer, believing that " we shall be confronted with 
the question in the near future," thinks that " there are certain 
topics pertaining to agricultural science which might very well 
receive recognition on the part of the universities, but there 
are also very many which are so far away from the ordinary 
conception of educational work that it seems to me that their 
evaluation would be a matter of serious difficulty." 

It may be interesting to compare the above views representing 
the leading state universities without agricultural colleges with 
those expressed by an influential member of the faculty of 
the University of Chicago, the most important privately endowed 
university of the Central States, and one that resembles the 
others mentioned in not maintaining a college of agriculture. 
Professor John M. Coulter distinguishes between agriculture as 
a science and as an art, and expresses the opinion that " the 
former deserves to be accepted for entrance, the latter could 
not be.^ The contents of botany, as you list them, are all right, 
provided the work is based on the reasons for things, and is 
not merely empirical. It is the attitude of mind toward the 
work rather than the work itself that determines its worth for 
college entrance. The topics mentioned are very desirable in a 
country high school, but not to the exclusion of other topics 

Heads of the department of botany in three state universities 
having agricultural colleges agree that from one-fourth to one- 
half of a full year's course in botany might profitably be spent 
on many of the topics enumerated, provided that botany in the 



^ As previously noted, the University of Tennessee will accept certain 
agricultural knowledge based upon experience instead of on the texts 
usually followed. 



i6o Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

strict sense be scientifically taught before such topics be taken 
up. One thinks they would be a good substitute for much of 
the plant analysis work where the course runs throughout the 
year. (The tendency in his state, is strongly against allowing 
more than half a year to botany.) Another would "not be 
willing to accept corn judging, seed testing, . . . etc., as 
botany " although " all this would be very good if properly 
treated." He does not think that plant diseases and their treat- 
ment, and experimentation with fertilizers can be treated " in 
any other than an empirical manner in the high schools." 

The attitude of two other state universities of the upper 
Mississippi Valley, as ascertained through their high school in- 
spectors, was to the effect that " botanical work given with an 
emphasis on the plant life common to farm life would be ac- 
cepted provided it were done as scientifically as any other type 
of botanical work." 

It will be seen that the botanists are generally agreed on these 
propositions : ( i ) The rural applications of botany are more or 
less commendable after the pure science has been presented ; 
(2) They should form a minor part of the course. The views 
of several, and the policy of their institutions are to favor the 
segregation of agricultural work instead of its inclusion with 
botany. A note of dissent was uttered as to whether the topics 
suggested could be taught scientifically, i. e., according to the 
usual procedure of experimentation. Two of the writers objected 
to the idea that a high school should give any vocational train- 
ing, even when resting on a foundation of science, going so 
far as to suggest that instruction in agriculture was as much 
out of place as instruction in forestry or pharmacy. 

It will be noted that Professor Coulter is possibl)' the only 
one who would be willing to sanction the idea that the agricul- 
tural applications should form an integral and essential part 
of each topic of the course in botany, where such an application 
is possible. Most of the others express opinions that would not 
be consistent with the idea that the home environment of high- 
school students in rural communities should furnish the im- 
pelling motive for the study, a motive that should be consciously 
recognized by the student as furnishing the reason for botany's 



Problems of Instruction in the Secondary School i6i 

being in the course at all. Of course this is rather opposed 
to the so-called " cultural " and " disciplinary " views of edu- 
cation, views that the scientists seem strongly opposed to allow- 
ing the classicists to entertain all to themselves. 

It is a fact of great significance that a number of high schools 
that have come directly under personal notice in this study 
have thrown out the subject of botany altogether (so far as 
one could tell by their statements) and have substituted agri- 
culture, on the ground that neither the students nor patrons 
saw any sense in teaching botany but did recognize the value 
of scientific agriculture, especially when they saw results. They 
discarded a book using the name botany only to substitute for 
it an " agriculture " that treated of the structure of the flower, 
the method of pollination, the effect of cross-pollination of dif- 
ferent strains of corn, with plans for field work to be done 
by the pupils at home on " corn breeding." There can be no 
doubt that this spreading tendency noticeable in small high schools 
is a protest against the formalism into which botany, in com- 
pany with physics, has fallen. The botanists have only them- 
selves to blame for the widespread substitution of a body of 
knowledge, poorly digested as yet, for a wholesome and scholarly 
kind of science work, because the influence of these leaders (as 
they should be) has been so largely for the " pure science," 
botany and so little for the kind that touches the life of the 
pupil and the interests of the community. 

The exponents of the " new physics," the " new botany," etc., 
maintain that these subjects should come closer to the outside 
interests of the pupils and patrons of the school, and that con- 
sequently the sciences now in the curriculum can and should 
be so taught as to satisfy all demands for agricultural instruc- 
tion that may legitimately be made upon the average public high 
school. But most of the good teachers of science are in the 
city schools. They find that it keeps them rather busy to bring 
the steel industry, baking powder manufacturing, and landscape 
gardening into their schools. The less efficient science teachers 
are in the one-, two-, and three-teacher high schools, and their 
texts say nothing about hydraulic rams, application of force to 
different parts of a plow beam clevis, the composition of fer- 



1 62 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

tilizers, or the purity of paints. They do not seem able to stir 
up much enthusiasm about sporophyte versus gametophyte gen- 
erations, nor does the structure of four-o-clock seeds seem to 
create excitement. And the same texts do not mention the 
difference between kernels of corn that sprout and those that 
do not. Perhaps the botanist at the university does not care 
about it either. 

It is clear that if the regular sciences are to meet the demands 
made upon them, the science teachers of small high schools 
must have more help than the present texts give them or their 
university courses furnish. When texts appear, as they are 
doing, that enable the teachers to make some use of their knowl- 
edge of the sciences and of their practical farm experience, 
when they have had any, it is only following the line of least 
resistance to follow the guidance of such a text or manual 
of laboratory and field exercises, and not attempt to make over 
the science texts already in their hands. Text-books are made 
to sell, and the small high schools can never be large users of 
texts in the special sciences. It may be too much to expect, 
as yet, that private enterprise will furnish rural editions of 
chemistry, physics, or zoology. The later agricultural texts 
partly perform this function for botany, with minor amounts 
of other matters thrown in. Even though technical agriculture 
be introduced into the upper years of the high school instead 
of the " elementary agriculture " now the vogue in the lower 
grades, the various sciences should so lend themselves to agri- 
cultural treatment as to free the technical subjects of the third 
or fourth years from enough pure science topics to permit an 
earnest study of the serious problem at hand. 

The movement that has started in various parts of the 
country in very tentative fashion to work out an " elementary 
science " course® has taken on a unique form in California, where 
the state university plans a first-year high-school course, for 
which it gives a year's entrance credit, which shall include a 
variety of agricultural and general topics of nature and science. 
Over one-half or two-thirds of the work is of direct interest 



" C. E. Peet, What Shall the First-year High School Science Be? 
Proc. of the N. E. A., 1909, p. 809. 



Problems of Instruction in the Secondary School 163 

to rural communities, whether pertaining to plants, engineering, 
soil formation, or meteorology. No doubt it is the facility with 
which agriculture has lent itself to this elementary science idea 
that has made it so popular as a first-year subject, where it 
manifestly could not become very technical. Given in the first 
year it must of necessity be largely cultural in its effect. It 
furnishes the opportunity for an introduction to the simplest 
chemical phenomena, combustion, solution, neutralization of 
acids in soil, the nature of nitrogen, of the meaning of the term 
protein, salts, and numerous other terms that any farmer must 
be slightly acquainted with in order to read intelligently his farm 
journal or the government bulletins, and which he may never 
hear of as a boy if they are left buried in a formal third- or 
fourth-year study. 

The combinations of studies listed in Chapter IV are sug- 
gestive of the trend toward the use of a body of fairly simple 
facts and phenomena to fulfil such a function as just men- 
tioned. Where once physical geography was expected to do 
this, we now find it combined with a half-year of agriculture. 
Unfortunately there is little evidence that the physical geography 
is modified at all by the relationship. At other times we find 
the popular combination of botany (flower study) in fall and 
spring, with agriculture (experimental work) in the winter. 
Undoubtedly the most efficient arrangement will result from a 
breaking up of the rather divergent lines of agriculture studies, 
so that plant work, such as the study of field, orchard, and 
garden crops, may be intimately taught with the principles of 
botany, when feeds and fertilizers will be integral parts of 
chemistry, when the cream separator will be the starting point 
of centrifugal action instead of the end, if indeed, the machine 
is not ignored altogether. The university botanist and chemist 
might not recognize their children in such a grouping, but the 
children would no doubt be lustier and grow to be more useful 
by the arrangement. This grouping will possibly grow more 
frequent as the " introductory science " comes more and more 
to be presented in the seventh and eighth grades of consolidated 
or village schools. Likewise the arrangement, not infrequently 
used, of this general course in agriculture in the fourth year, 



164 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

may also prove to be a temporary expedient, lasting only until 
the different sciences and their immediately related agricultural 
topics are welded together and rescued from pedagogical chaos. 
At such a time we may see the general high schools presenting, 
with fairly competent teachers, courses in science in appropriate 
years, so strongly " agriculturized " that they might bear indis- 
criminately the names of the present sciences, or the terms, 
agronomy, horticulture, farm mechanics, etc. With this state 
of teaching the present first-year agriculture would be largely 
relegated to the grades, as agriculture, nature-study, or ele- 
mentary science according to the taste of the writer of the 
course of study. The more serious technical courses, requiring 
expensive equipment, large observational and experimental facili- 
ties where real plant and animal breeding and crop rotations 
may be studied under observation, may be taken in special schools 
not so far from the farmer, in time or place, but that he may 
see the results and profit by them himself as well as send his 
more ambitious and reliable boy thither for still more direct in- 
struction. When we bear in mind that nearly one-half of our 
agricultural colleges have courses whose first year or two is 
secondary work in everything but name, it will be appreciated 
that the special agricultural school is not such a new thing in 
our educational system, and that only as such schools are de- 
veloped will the state agricultural college be able to serve as a 
research center and do work of as truly college grade as the 
other colleges of the state. 

One of the questions perplexing the small high school is : 
How can we relate the teaching of our sciences to agricultural 
education ? The question is largely bound up in the large propo- 
sition of making agricultural instruction " incidental," or " cor- 
related " strongly with the other sciences, versus the proposition 
of teaching it entirely separately. The ideal would involve a 
combination, but in schools teaching agriculture separately, many 
presenting the subject in but one year, there is a woeful lack 
of any such tendency. So far as I can discover, the sciences 
are taught just as abstractly, in most cases, whether agriculture 
is in the school or not. Or where an attempt at " correlation " 



Problems of Instruction in the Secondary School 165 

is made, it is not correlation but repetition, which may have 
all the value of a review but none of the charm of new study 
or new viewpoint. 

The desirable kind of correlation is illustrated by a number 
of examples described in Chapter III. x'\ttention may again be 
called to a notable instance, that of the work done by the high 
school at Odell, 111. No separate instruction in agriculture as 
such was given. Injurious insects and their relation to birds 
were studied in zoology. Much of the course in botany took a 
decidedly practical turn. 

The visitor was furnished with essays on " The Corn Plant " 
that were summaries of various fragmentary studies on the corn 
stem, under the topic of stems, of the ear and tassel, under 
flowers and fruits, and in connection with other regular botanical 
topics. They certainly showed as comprehensive a knowledge 
of the plant, its habits, and the industry depending on it, as 
one usually finds where a special text is used. The experimental 
plat cultivated under the direction of the staff of the agricul- 
tural college of the state university is an object lesson for the 
community rather than for the high school, although the pupils 
are taken to it for instruction. It furnishes what Professor 
David Eugene Smith calls " real problems " for the arithmetic 
classes in the grades. They are taken there to get the data for 
problems in percentage, linear and surface measure, and other 
topics. 

In the John Swaney School, in Illinois, which offers several 
courses in industrial subjects, was seen some of the best work 
done on insects as related to farm industry, not as a part of a 
definite agricultural study, but as a part of the course in zoology. 

The use of the polariscope by the chemistry class at St. 
Louis, Mich., is an equally good illustration. This instrument 
is not one of the common instruments in a high-school equip- 
ment. But this school is in the heart of the sugar-beet terri- 
tory. Sugar beets constitute the best paying crop produced, 
although as yet not more than one acre in ten is put into beets. 
Several of the boys have gone from the high school into the 
sugar factories, and have become assistant chemists at a better 



1 66 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

salary than they could have commanded in the callings usually 
open in a country town. This school also offers other courses 
in agriculture. 

Likewise the Babcock tester has been used in various physics 
classes to illustrate centrifugal action. 

" Waste of teaching effort " may be well illustrated by a num- 
ber of instances observed where opportunities similar to those 
just mentioned had not been used to advantage. A certain well 
endowed New England academy has a lot of land, a herd of 
cows, a Babcock tester for their milk, and a cream separator; 
but no use is made of either piece of apparatus by the physics 
teacher, who is more intent on the fifty " Harvard experiments," 
none of which call for the use of those articles. There is an 
orchard on the school grounds, but the botany teacher makes 
no use of it, nor does he even show what a graft is, although 
his class studies the structure of the stem and the cambium cells 
with the compound miscroscope. A western high school has 
courses in agriculture taught by a man who had considerable 
training in the state agricultural college. Some of the students 
in his class in farm mechanics failed to " pass " because they 
had not mastered the mechanical principles involved in the 
machinery. They took their physics under a different teacher, 
who did not use these implements to illustrate the principles in 
the mechanics he was teaching as a branch of high-school physics. 
Most schools doing laboratory work in botany make cross and 
longitudinal sections of the corn kernel, but they do not test 
the seed for viability, or test the relation between depth of germ 
and vigor of growth of the seedling. 

Waste of educational energy is a fault that always attends 
poor correlation or lack of effort altogether in this direction. 
The example of the class work in physics and in farm mechanics 
just mentioned is an instance. One school in its printed course 
of study shows " plant life " as a study in the first year, and 
botany as a third-year study. The former turned out to be 
more or less book study of plant functions, and the latter, book 
study of plant structures, until the spring flowers bloomed, after 
which it was plant analysis, given for its " disciplinary value," 
as the principal expressed it. But there was, from the nature 



Problems of Instruction in tlie Secondary School 167 

of the case, more or less duplication of effort in the two classes, 
carried on as they were by different teachers. 

Relation of the Agriculture Taught in the High School to that 
Taught in the Elementary Schools 

It is a significant fact that the states requiring agriculture 
to be taught in the rural schools have shown the slowest volun- 
tary development of this subject in the high schools, the only 
secondary school work having been, till recently, in the technical 
agricultural schools of Alabama, Georgia, and Wisconsin. Ne- 
braska has the work well developed in the high schools main- 
taining training classes for teachers, and in some other high 
schools. Georgia teachers must pass an examination in agricul- 
ture for first and second grade certificates. But the subject was 
not made mandatory before the teachers were partly prepared, 
at least, to teach the subject. A serious difficulty as yet is the 
lack of differentiation between agricultural instruction of high- 
school grade and that of elementary grade. Of several summer 
schools, some ostensibly train for high-school work, some for 
normal training schools, others purport to train only for the 
grades. But so far as could be determined, there was in most 
of these classes no distinction in the grade of material used 
or complexity of subject matter to correspond with the differ- 
ence in the pupils who were finally to receive this instruction. 
It is as if all of our teachers, high school and elementary, were 
to get their training together in the normal training classes or 
in the colleges. The method and subject matter of agricultural 
instruction must some day become more definitely standardized 
with reference to elementary and high-school grades. The fre- 
quent objections to the text-books used by the high schools 
reporting indicate that this faulty standardization is recognized 
in many quarters. 

There is as yet no agreement as to the age at which agricultural 
instruction should begin in a formal manner with profit to the 
child. The laws of several states require it to be taught in 
the seventh and eighth grades. The rural common schools, as 
a rule, use the same texts that the high schools use when carry- 
ing on the course for one year or less. If we accept Dewey's 



1 68 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

definition of education as " a working over of experiences," we 
must grant that children three or four years apart in age have 
very different stores of experience, and need different treatment 
as well as texts. Professor Bailey and others seem to be against 
agriculture as a study by itself and apart from nature-study 
until the high school is reached. Professor Stevens, of North 
Carolina, in the course of nature-study planned for that state, 
provides for text-book work in agriculture in the fifth grade, 
to be preceded and followed by work in nature-study. The gen- 
eral trend seems to be toward a specialization in the South and 
West in the upper grades. 

Leaders in the National Society for the Promotion of In- 
dustrial Education have much to say just now in regard to the 
desirability of introducing a differentiation at the age of twelve ; 
but they seem ignorant of the great stride that has already taken 
place toward that very thing in the industrial education of rural 
communities. The administrative and legal machinery for it 
is in much better shape than the methods for carrying it on. 
The reader will recall the report given in Chapter VI on the 
grades pupils have or must have completed in order to enter 
the special schools ; that the special agricultural and semi-agri- 
cultural schools of the South are settling upon an elementary 
course of seven grades ; that the special schools of the North 
desire completion of the eighth grade but often make exceptions ; 
that the special schools of Oklahoma require the completion of 
the eighth grade but provide a preparatory course with ele- 
mentary agriculture in each of its three years. Added to this 
is the fact that most of the states provided with these schools 
require agriculture to be taught in the last of the elementary 
grades, the seventh or the eighth as the case may be. These 
various plans actually operate to bring the children into the pre- 
vocational work at anywhere from 12 to 16 years of age, ac- 
cording to the opportunities' of the pupils for completing each 
year's work, which is admittedly meagre in many rural sections 
because of the home demands in the spring. So it would seem 
that the only conditions necessary to make vocational work, or 
a near approach to it, a vigorous actuality in rural education are 
money and prepared teachers. The present lack of these seems 



Problems of Instruction in the Secondary School 169 

appalling, but the great strides now being made compare favor- 
ably with the progress in the corresponding vocational training 
in cities. 

Difficulties of Instruction 

The most immediate problems have to do with the facilities 
at the command of the superintendent or principal. The diffi- 
culties are many and varied. The responses to the question, 
" What are your chief difficulties," were numerous and covered 
a wide range. Although expressed in many ways, they may be 
roughly grouped under six general headings as shown below: 

Table 51 

Difficulties Experienced in Teaching Agriculture 

Lack of equipment and (unspecified) facilities 69 

Lack of time or suitable season for the work 61 

Lack of suitable teacher 8 

Lack of moral support in various forms 17 

Lack of suitable text-book 9 

Difficulties of organization or methods 21 

Total number of difficulties mentioned 185 

Number of schools reporting them 151 

Schools reporting no difficulties 13 

Total number of schools reporting 164 

One hundred and nineteen of these were high schools and 45 
were training classes. Thirty-eight high schools failed to report 
that otherwise furnished rather full data. Twenty-eight of 
these, however, reported that the attitude of the pupils or patrons, 
or both, was favorable and often enthusiastic. Over half of the 
44 training classes failing to report on this topic were in New 
York. 

Some of the variations in the lack of facilities reported, were : 
lack of apparatus, laboratory space, opportunities for practice, 
material, fields for observation, grounds for gardens and ex- 
perimental work; lack of heat in the building over night, refer- 
ence library. Some complained of the shortness of the growing 
season before the end of the term, others of the lack of time 
for field trips. A very small number lamented their own lack 



170 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

of training, although many, no doubt, were conscious of their 
own lack of preparation. Two objected that the teachers were 
city girls. 

The Time Problem 

Superintendents complain of the lack of suitable teachers, 
and of the unsympathetic attitude of the science teachers, which 
is serious enough. Such teachers could help wonderfully in 
solving the time problem. In some cases the botany has been 
absorbed by the agriculture, with the result that all the necessary 
botany was given as before, and there was a freedom and 
elasticity in the year's work that was lacking when the agri- 
culture was supposed to have the right of way for only 12 or 
18 weeks. The secondary course in agronomy, outlined in Cir- 
cular yy of the Office of Experiment Stations, contains so many 
topics that are purely botanical, in the sense of being included 
in all the high-school texts, that it would seem that the course 
would require to be expanded but little to include about all the 
botany a high-school course need embrace ; or else that the botany 
should be strengthened in several of its evident weak spots, 
throwing out certain superfluities, and so include practically all 
of the projected course in agronomy. In the East and South, 
more than in the West, botany seems to mean plant analysis; 
and in order to get any study of plant functions we must ap- 
parently inject a new study into the curriculum. For many years 
the West has included all this in its high-school botany work, 
due to the influence of Professors Coulter, Barnes, and others, 
and to the Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools. 
What they have lacked is the agricultural viewpoint rather than 
new botanical content to make their work symmetrical. 

Some of the administrative difficulties mentioned were peculiar 
to the subject; as, determination of its place in the curriculum, 
laboratory work hard to organize, no definite outline to work 
from, or having city children in the school. These difficulties 
will disappear as theory and practice crystallize, or at least are 
better understood. Such troubles as lack of practical work, 
difficulty to get the pupils to do experiments, to observe, to apply 



Problems of Instruction in the Secondary School 1 7 1 

the work, and to see that it is real, all these are in a degree 
dependent on the teacher rather than on the subject, and are 
difficulties which the same teachers would find with almost any 
science study. 

The Equipment Problem 

The complaint of insufficient apparatus has less grounds to 
rest on than would a similar complaint urged for almost any 
other science, for in no other study than agriculture do home- 
found appliances come so nearly equalling bought apparatus in 
serviceableness. Tin cans, perforated and unperforated, paint 
pails, soup plates, alcohol lamps made of ketchup bottles or 
even shoe-blacking boxes, are very serviceable. In fact tin cans 
do better for some experiments than crockery. Lamp chimneys 
cost little, family scales and spring balances are inexpensive, 
but chemical thermometers cost more than the ordinary types. 
With the exception of a Babcock milk tester, four or five dollars 
should provide all the apparatus needed in a small high school, 
in addition to what can be made, to perform most of the ex- 
periments which the younger high-school pupils can understand. 
Much of this apparatus should be in the equipment for physics 
or chemistry if the school offers to teach those subjects at all.'^ 
In the schools visited there was too much evidence of money 
invested in showy but almost useless airpumps and static elec- 
trical machines while the school suffered from a dearth of simple 
material or of duplicates of common apparatus necessary to 
carry on individual laboratory work. The frictional electric 
machine does not illustrate anything of sufficient commercial 
importance to justify its cost. 

One can well sympathize, however, with those teachers who 
feel the lack of room, who lack window sills to set plants in, 
and plain tables on which to spread out corn ears and simple 
seed testers, or who cannot find a convenient corner in which 
to keep the soil used for experiments. 



' Attention is called in the bibliography to a number of reports and 
bulletins containing lists of apparatus suitable for agricultural courses 
in high schools of various standards. 



172 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

The Teacher Problem 

Few high schools of villages and the poorer townships can 
aspire to get a teacher trained in agriculture as easily as they 
now get teachers trained in Latin or mathematics, because the 
present supply is so much smaller than the number of small 
schools already teaching the subject and the competition for the 
men available is too keen on the part of institutions able to pay 
much larger salaries. Reference to Chapter V will show how 
large a proportion of the graduates of the agricultural colleges 
is absorbed by the colleges themselves, the experiment stations, 
and the state and federal governments. Commercial lines have 
also attracted a number. A census taken in another year or two 
would show a large percentage of these graduates secured by 
the special state and county schools being so rapidly organized. 
This last source of competition will probably absorb practically 
all the output of the colleges who have the advantage of teach- 
ing experience or pedagogical training. As the salary neces- 
sary to secure the desirable men equals or exceeds that paid the 
principal of the smaller high schools, the only way for such 
schools to have agriculture taught by a teacher fitted to do so 
is to elect principals competent to handle the work. 

The figures just referred to show the following significant 
facts : 

Of all the teachers of agriculture reported upon, 109 are 
principals or superintendents, and 51 are assistants, including 
agriculturists. Sixty-eight of the 79 teachers reported from 
Missouri and Ohio are principals or superintendents. A majority 
of the teachers in these two states receive less than $612 and 
$733 respectively. 

The salaries of seven-eighths of the 33 trained agriculturists 
teaching in secondary schools, who reported their salaries, are 
$750 or over, including three-fourths of those who are only 
assistants. 

The Text-Book Problem 

When asking for a statement of difficulties, no clue was given 
as to what it was supposed they might or could be; it was quite 
surprising to find so many respondents characterizing their text 



Problems of Instruction in the Secondary School 173 

as " thin," or " kindergarten." The printed page was evidently 
not meat but milk for the young mind beginning to realize its 
own power. Judicious use of government bulletins, which could 
be obtained free, might have served as an agreeable corrective. 

With the appearance of new books which are sufficiently ad- 
vanced for use in the high schools, the text-book difficulty is 
solving itself. Books written for the elementary schools are 
being relegated to use in the grades for which they were in- 
tended. In this list may properly be included nearly all of 
those given in Table 34 as the texts used in schools reporting. 
Two or three others that have appeared in the last two years, 
are of the same class. The quality of som.e of the latest does 
not promise any contribution to the problem of teaching agri- 
culture in the grades. The texts by Bailey, Jackson and 
Daugherty, and Ferguson and Lewis, are in many places too 
difficult for use below the high school. Warren's " Elements 
of Agriculture " is intended for the upper years of the high 
school, and seems to be the first book written expressly for that 
purpose. There seems to be a noticeable tendency on the part 
of the special secondary schools of agriculture as shown by their 
catalogues, to make liberal use, as texts, of books that have 
heretofore found their function in high schools solely as refer- 
ence books, and that have not been used as texts outside of the 
agricultural colleges. The result of this on the colleges is obvious. 

The Methods Problem 

Agriculture is probably taught as well as other sciences in the 
same schools. But the deficiencies are more prominent on ac- 
count of the greater opportunity afforded to make concrete the 
principles of the various sciences. So much have the sciences 
been regarded as instruments of a disciplinary education, that 
the absence of concrete applications has not seemed to many 
to be such a marked defect. The pedagogy of agricultural in- 
struction must take account of the essentially utilitarian aspect 
of this study. The philosophy underlying the methods of in- 
struction is not consistent with that conception of education, that 
to be cultural is to be useless ; nor does agriculture in the schools 
depend for its justification on any supposed disciplinary values. 



174 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

Not that it does not possess as much value in this direction as 
other studies, but agriculture as a study may justly claim to 
have a content of its own that is worth while. It does not need 
the prop of a disciplinary conception of education that bids 
fair to become obsolete. But if the administrators idea is to 
teach the art or trade of farming, his methods, while involving 
the idea of doing, will probably be those of purely imitative 
doing, and not be calculated to cultivate initiative, to give op- 
portunities for forming and correcting judgments, nor for ac- 
quiring a scientific habit of thought. Viewed as an instrument 
of education, agriculture should do all these things as truly as 
any other science is supposed to do. We must remember that 
we are teaching children as well as subjects. 

The meaning may be made more clear by referring again to 
a stock experiment in agriculture, one that illustrates so many 
principles of teaching, namely top-grafting. I have mentioned 
the study of the stem stopping with a microscopic examination 
of the cellular structure without any attempt to show vividly 
the function of the cambium layer of cells by having the class 
make grafts. The practice in teaching agriculture is usually 
for the teacher to demonstrate the mechanical process without 
the children knowing much about the structure upon which the 
success of the experiment depends. They may be told that the 
scions must be inserted in the cleft at the bark, but I never heard 
of any one having a trial experiment made of putting one scion 
in the middle, or heart-wood portion, of the stock in order to 
demonstrate that only at the outer part of the limb would the 
knitting together occur. The following illustrates still better 
how we might, but do not, teach the scientific method of 
thought. A boy in Ohio studied at a school that was not for- 
tunate in possessing a school garden and he had none at home, 
but he was anxious to try the efficacy of treating seed potatoes 
for scab. So he volunteered to demonstrate to a neighbor, whose 
patch did not produce well on account of scab, the value of the 
treatment on his lot, and was permitted to do so. The owner 
of the land was no doubt delighted with the result, and as an 
object lesson to the landowner it was a good thing, but as a 
school exercise for mental training it might have given greater 



Problems of Instruction in the Secondary Scliool 175 

returns for the time spent if the teacher had told the boy to 
leave one-half of the field untreated. It would not have taken 
one minute longer, it would have taken less time if anything. 
The crop could have been no worse than it would have been 
anyway, and all other factors would have been eliminated except 
that of the special treatment of the potatoes planted. In this 
way, and only in this way was it possible to show that the 
treatment, and not favorable weather or extra sprinkling, or non- 
appearance of bugs, or other causes, was responsible for the 
improved yield, even in the absence of scab. 

In demonstration plats attached to schools this idea of the 
" control " or " check " experiment is of utmost importance. 
Otherwise it can not be proved scientifically that the results are 
not due to superiority of the soil, drainage, or fertilizer used. 
In schools that had orchards at their command, everything in 
sight was pruned and no trees exposed to the same conditions 
were left unchanged, so as to have a basis of comparison in 
yielding season. The prevailing idea was that of a good work- 
man and not of the investigator. The famous corn plat of the 
University of Illinois should be commended to all schools teach- 
ing agriculture. This corn plat has yielded for the last three 
years an average of 27 bushels to the acre, while another plat 
near it yielded, under a different system of farming, at the rate 
of 96 bushels. Farmers who visit the experimental farm show 
considerable contempt for this field until they learn that it is 
an object lesson on how not to do it, and that it has taken about 
thirty years to get this field in its present poor condition by 
keeping it in corn. 

We do not have to believe that the unrelated chemistry experi- 
ment is the only thing giving opportunity for making and cor- 
recting judgments; nor is this the exclusive attribute of that 
particular kind of mathematical physics that is killing itself off 
except as bolstered up by college entrance requirements. The 
contests between the disciplinarians and the phenomenologists 
tend to drive the latter class into an extreme and untenable posi- 
tion. The remark made recently that " there are no methods of 
teaching above the grades " is an indictment of the high-school 
instruction and not of pedagogy. And even in the grades the 



176 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

current methods of carrying on garden work are not calculated 
to encourage much initiative on the part of the child or to 
place any definite problems before him for solution. It is often 
only a sort of physical exercise that is better than gymnasium 
work because it is out of doors. 



The Attitude of Students and Patrons 

Much of the success of the instruction depends on the attitude 
of the pupils, and the encouragement given the work by the 
parents. On the other hand, the degree of interest shown reflects 
in no small degree the quality of the teaching. Opinions were 
asked regarding the attitude of the students and patrons, and 
are here given for what they are worth. Attention is called to 
various possible factors operating against the value of these 
judgments, and to possible explanations of some of the unfavor- 
able cases. Very few, only ten each, of the high school and 
normal training classes, failed to offer some estimate. The 
answers are classified rather arbitrarily according to the degree 
of interest indicated with the most frequently recurring phrases 
indicated. The opinions of the high schools are separated from 
those of the normal training classes. The first number given 
refers to the former and the second figure to the latter. 

Table 52 
The Attitude of Pupils and Patrons Toward Agriculture 



Pupils "enthusiastic," "very much inter- 
ested," " very favorable," or study " very 
popular " 

Pupils " like it," " pleased with it," " take 
kindly to it," or attitude " good," " favor- 
able," " pleasing " 

Attitude " fairly good," " tolerant," pupils 
" show no marked interest " 

"Indifferent," "backward," "no interest" 

" Unfavorable," or pupils " disHke it "... . 

" Cannot judge," or " study too new ". . . . 

Not reporting 

Total 



Reported 
by high 
schools 



30 



90 

12 
4 
3 
2 

10 



151 



Reported 
by train- 
ing classes 



37 



66 

7 
5 
1 
2 
10 



128 



Total 



67 



156 

19 
9 
4 
4 

20 



279 



Problems of Instruction in the Secondary School 177 

A few of the extreme expressions may be of interest : " Pupils 
enjoy the work beyond all my expectations," " heart and soul 
in the work," " like it, the only trouble there is not enough." 
Concerning the attitude of the patrons in particular : " Would 
not do without it," " watch the work closely," " regard the work 
as practical," " parents read the text-book." One superintendent 
said that his class could not get the books because the farmers 
bought them as soon as they arrived in town, and that the book- 
seller had to order the books three times. In two or three cases 
the pupils were reported as interested, while the patrons were 
neutral or hostile. 

In nearly every case reporting a dislike for the subject, the 
returns also showed that the work included neither class-room 
experiments, demonstrations, nor practical home work. Under 
the circumstances one would expect nothing else. Others re- 
ported " no demand for it," " prejudice against book farming," 
and one, that it was hard to make the work seem practical 
to the patrons. Many of these cases, I believe, could have been 
managed by not labelling the study so conspicuously as some- 
thing never before taught, and, by incorporating instead, the 
material in subjects already on a safe footing. In one school 
the work was introduced under the heading of geology to meet 
the objections of an influential citizen. He has since given sev- 
eral hundred dollars for agriculture, and it is taught in all four 
years of the high school. In contrast with the cases of indif- 
ference just noted, is the school whose superintendent told me 
of knowing that, out of twenty graduates that year, four would 
not have entered the high school from the country but for the 
respect their parents entertained for the unpretentious course in 
agriculture. Another school placed animal husbandry in the 
first year, an unusual place, because that work appealed to the 
parents as so eminently practical that they were willing to have 
the boys continue in school in order to get that kind of work. 
Two city boys graduating from a school where the subject was 
regarded " with doubt " chose to enter the state agricultural 
college. 

The pupils in a New York high school are " indifferent be- 
cause the work is too closely allied to their home life ( !) ; they 



178 Agricultural Instruction in tite Public High Sclwols 

want something new, and seek to avoid farm life." On the other 
hand, the pupils of a Nebraska school " like it because most of 
them are rural pupils." The former school reports no experi- 
mental work while the latter school does. In another school 
" it is hard to get the pupils interested at first because most of 
them think they know all about it." 

The fact must not be overlooked that enthusiasm on the part 
of the teacher may be reflected not only in the attitude of his 
pupils but sometimes in his notion of their feelings, and thus 
give rise to a roseate but unjustified answer. Again some teach- 
ers might fear that any but a favorable report would reflect 
discredit on their work. Then, too, there is to be considered that 
familiar tendency to give, however honestly and unintentionally, 
the kind of an answer one thinks the inquirer would like to get. 

However, most answers that would fall under any of the above 
criticisms are, perhaps, counterbalanced by the reports of teach- 
ers not in sympathy with a study they must teach against their 
will. A former superintendent in a small Indiana village wrote 
that he had not been in sympathy with the movement. His con- 
ception of education was that " life was more than meat and 
the body more than raiment." But the demand for instruction 
in agriculture was so insistent, so sincere, and so dignified and 
reasonable, that it could not be ignored. So he planned to 
put a course into operation but himself " abandoned the field of 
general school work for the more congenial field of history and 
psychology." 

If it be true that the life in the school should be as little 
unlike the life outside as possible, as educators of note main- 
tain, or, stated more positively, that the work of the school 
should be related as nearly as possible to the outside life, it 
must be especially true of any industrial phase of the school 
life. It is incumbent on the agriculture taught in the high school 
to be particularly relevant to the principal activities of the im- 
mediate neighborhood and to give an insight into the importance, 
if not the methods, of agricultural interests in other parts of 
our nation. Agriculture in the broad sense includes a variety 
of activities. More of these are represented in some localities 
than in others. Some are much more widespread than others. 



Problems of Instruction in the Secondary School 179 

An effort was made in this investigation to learn the important 
local industries that " fit in " well with the agriculture of the 
school and that are interesting to the pupils. While a detailed 
classification would include more than thirty headings, the an- 
swers may be roughly grouped under the seven given below. 
Those from the high schools are kept separate from those of 
the normal training classes as in the last table. 



Table 53 

Principal Industries of the Communities Supporting Agricul- 
tural Courses 





Reported 
by high 
schools 


Reported 
by train- 
ing schools 


lotal 


General farming and farm crops 

Special farming and farm crops 


90 

10 

21 

68 

6 

6 

3 

6 


12 

6 

10 

25 

7 
8 
3 
4 


102 
16 


Horticulture and gardening . 

Animal husbandry, including dairying 

Manufactured milk products 


31 
93 
13 


Manufactures allied to agriculture 

Industries not allied to agriculture 


14 
6 


Reporting " no local industries " 


10 






Total 

Number of schools represented 

Number not reporting on blanks returned . . . 


210 

147 
23 


75 

44 
31 


285 

191 
54 



(Twenty of the thirty-one training schools not mentioning this point were New York 
schools. ) 

One of the most important of the teaching problems concerns 
the relative degree of difficulty of the various topics usually 
presented to high-school pupils. The correspondents were asked 
to name the agricultural topics giving them the most concern. 
It is a matter of regret that the number of responses on this 
point is so much smaller than on most others. The following 
replies represent 55 high schools. The few who complained of 
the difficulty of teaching anything requiring laboratory work may 
be dismissed from further consideration. For convenience, the 
points are arranged under four general headings. 



i8o Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

Table 54 
Topics in Agriculture Most Difficult to Teach 



Soil work: 

No. 

Soils 17 

Soils and rocks. ... 2 

Analysis of 3 

Chemistry of 8 

Drainage of 1 

Fertility of 4 

Nitrification of . . . . 1 

Physics of 3 

Fertilizers 2 

Fertilizers, artifi- 
cial 1 

Tests 1 

Total 43 



Animal husbandry: 

No. 
Feeds and feeding 14 



Feeds, analysis of 
Animal husban- 
dry 

Dairying 

Livestock 

Stock raising. . . . 



Total 19 

Miscellaneous: 

Insects 2 

Pests 1 

"All tests" 1 

Total 4 



Plants and crops: 

No. 

Field crops 2 

Horticulture 

Orchards 

Plant breeding . . . 

Plant propagation 
and improve- 
ment 

Budding and 
grafting 

Plant diseases .... 

Chemistry of 
plants 

Total 



Total of items 74 

Number of schools reporting them 52 

Number of schools reporting " none " 4 

One report stated that all the topics were easy, another that 
all were of equal difficulty, and a third that all were too easy 
in the text. Eight of the schools reporting difficulties teach the 
subject in the third year, and four in the fourth year. 

Many, no doubt, failed to report because no one topic stood 
out prominently as being particularly more difficult than the 
others. The concentration of the replies on two points, soils 
and feeds, may mean (i) that these two subjects are not treated 
in the texts with the same clearness as the others; (2) that they 
are inherently more difficult than other topics; or (3) that 
they are, in many respects, too difficult for the pupils in the 
lower years of the high school. Probably all three factors are 
concerned. The writer has called attention at some length^ to 
the uneven and otherwise unsatisfactory treatment of " soils " 
in books of high-school grade. Justification of the second sug- 
gestion is found in the fact that both topics draw heavily on 

^ Some Text-Books for Secondary-school Agriculture, Nature-Study 
Review, Vol. Ill, pp. 180-185. 



Problems of Instruction in the Secondary School i8i 

physics and chemistry, studies usually deferred until the third 
and fourth years, and in the fact that the large proportion of 
difficulties on this point did not appear in the reports from 
schools teaching agriculture in the last two years of the course. 
The fact has not been sufficiently recognized that the topics 
in agriculture, and the treatment of those topics, must be as 
carefully graded as the subject matter in any other branch of 
knowledge. One principal stated, wisely it would seem, that 
he attempted to handle but three lines, and found them not too 
difficult for his pupils. A proper organization of courses will 
eliminate certain topics from the work of the first years, or 
treat them in a more elementary way. Where the simpler treat- 
ment of soils, for instance, is given in the last grade of the 
elementary school, it is manifestly unwise to repeat the work, 
even in a more " advanced " manner, when it has been impossible 
as yet for the student to gain the scientific background for more 
advanced work. If a school can include the subject of agri- 
culture formally in but one year, these more difficult topics 
might much better be deferred for treatment in connection with 
the sciences of the upper years. We may yet see high-school 
texts, or series of texts, written in " parts," these parts one, 
two, three, etc., not treating with completeness the various de- 
partments of agriculture, but containing work appropriate to 
different grades, as the seventh, eighth, tenth, and twelfth or 
eighth, ninth, and twelfth. One of the encouraging signs is that 
men who are not ostensibly writing texts, are rendering invalu- 
able aid by issuing in small compass guides for practical work 
in several restricted fields of agricultural instruction. 

Help That May be Given the Schools 

High schools are greatly in need of aid that can only be given 
by agricultural colleges, experiment stations, and departments of 
agriculture. It is almost impossible to obtain anywhere at a 
reasonable cost small working collections of insects of economic 
value, of weed seeds, and of soil-forming rocks. An occasional 
college can be found that has, at one time or another, provided 
such collections, but their willingness has usually outstripped 
their appropriations. The United States Geological Survey once 



i82 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

supplied free of cost an exceedingly good collection of common 
rocks, although a nominal price would have been justified. Few 
schools know where to send for graded samples of grains and 
reliable samples of fertilizers. The many bulletins and reports 
issued by the federal government and various states are invalu- 
able for reference, but there is still great need for studies worked 
out by the state colleges or still better by trained agriculturists 
now in secondary work, adapted to the local needs of different 
sections of the country. 

Conclusions and Summary 

A wise and far-reaching policy regarding agricultural educa- 
tion in the public school system is highly desirable, both for the 
sake of the efficiency of the work itself, and for the protection 
of our present high schools. 

Legislative aid is beneficial ; legislative mandates are of doubt- 
ful help. 

Local high schools can not hope to do as pretentious work 
as the special schools because of the excessive cost of a large 
plant. 

The special school may be able to work out cultural material 
suitable for rural students better than the present high schools. 

The special school may become either a competitor of the 
present rural high schools or an adjunct to the system we now 
have in the wealthier states, crippling them in one case and 
stimulating them in the other. 

Such available opinions as are based on personal experience 
do not warrant the fear of the evil influence of the small vil- 
lages in which the special schools so far have been located, when 
they are not in the country altogether. 

The attitude of the colleges and universities toward the agri- 
culture taught in the high school is as favorable as the character 
of the work merits. 

Agriculture in the schools is a very unsettled and undeter- 
mined thing. 

Agricultural instruction must be adapted to the community. 
A general course will fit but very few places. 



Problems of Instruction in tJte Secondary School 1 83 

We need clearer ideas regarding the pedagogical principles 
involved in this and other science teaching. 

We need a clearer understanding regarding the domain of this 
and the other sciences, and we also need more cooperation be- 
tween them to save time and teaching energy. The sciences 
should change their viewpoint, and thus allow agriculture to put 
its time on the more technical phases of its subject matter. 

Agriculture should be recognized as an instrument of educa- 
tion in the sense of affording mental training, as well as in the 
sense of furnishing an acquaintance with the environment, and 
should be used as such. The scientific method of thought should 
have a more definite place in the instruction. 

Agriculture is probably as well taught as the other sciences 
in the same schools. 

Current practice places agriculture in the lower years of the 
high-school curriculum ; and so it will probably function more 
and more as an " introductory science," as physical geography 
was once expected to do. It can not then avail itself of the 
training and information gained from the other sciences as some 
of its advocates would have it do. 

As given in the grades, it is very imperfectly differentiated 
from that of the high school. 

This differentiation must largely be worked out and be made 
apparent by the schools that train teachers for the elementary 
and high schools. 

Agriculture as a separate branch in the elementary-school cur- 
riculum is bound up with the question of differentiating our 
entire system of education at about the age of twelve, as urged 
by many interested in industrial education. 

Lack of equipment need not discourage teachers as it does. 
We have not by any means exhausted present resources. 

Home garden work has proved to be an invaluable aid to 
school work, and has certain advantages over the school garden. 

Lack of time is a matter of will, management, and public 
opinion. The sentiment of the community is very often ahead 
of the preparation of the teacher, and is willing to spare time 
from some of the traditional studies whose chief justification 
is a supposed disciplinary value. 



184 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

We need texts in greater variety and better adapted to high- 
school pupils. 

Trained teachers are scarce and command a higher salary than 
the rural high school thinks it can afford to pay. We must 
depend largely on giving additional training to teachers already 
well grounded in science, or with practical farm experience — 
preferably both. 

Any one responsible for agricultural instruction must have 
worked out an aim and a philosophy underlying it, and must 
keep in mind the child, the equipment, and the relation to the 
community. 

The attitude of the patrons is usually favorable and the interest 
of the pupils is related, about as one would expect, to the amount 
of laboratory work, i. e., to the quality of instruction. 



APPENDIX A 

LEGISLATION PERTAINING TO AGRICULTURAL IN- 
STRUCTION IN PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOLS 

An examination of the school laws of a large number of 
states, most of them as late as 1907 or 1908, fails to show many 
specific references to the teaching of agriculture in the general 
public high school. A few important laws on this subject were 
passed during the sessions of 1908 and 1909. 

In Kansas, county high schools may be established subject to 
certain restrictions, among others that " their course of study 
shall be four years in length, and shall be such as will prepare 
for entrance to the freshman year of the college of liberal arts 
of the state university, of the agricultural college, or to the pro- 
fessional course of the normal school."^ It would seem that 
the requirement to teach agricultural branches in the county high 
schools depends on the entrance requirements established by 
the agricultural college, unless the law be construed to mean 
that the agricultural college must take the students who have 
pursued the course taught in schools that " use the course of 
study laid down by the state board." (Sec. 185.) 

In Maine we find that " the course of study in the free high 
schools shall embrace the ordinary English academic studies 
which are taught in secondary schools, especially the natural 
sciences in their application to mechanics, manufacture, and 
agriculture. . . ."^ But so far as learned, nothing per- 
taining to agriculture is taught in a way to make the relation 
with the natural sciences apparent. The legislature in 1907 
made an appropriation of $500 a year to high schools and 
academies that would put in a course in agriculture.^ Several 

'Laws Relating to the Common Schools of Kansas, 1907, Sec. 177. 
^ Laws of Maine Relating to Public Schools, 1905, p. 21. 
^ Chap. 78, March 20, 1907, amending Sec. 6, Chap. 148, Acts 1901. 
(Sec. 81, Chap. 15, Maine Revised Statutes, 1903.) 

185 



1 86 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

of them started at once to introduce some work in order to get 
this state aid, but the state superintendent of public instruction 
ruled that the conditions necessary to receive the aid would not 
be considered as having been complied with unless an agricul- 
tural college graduate, or some one else equally fitted, were en- 
gaged to carry on the work. 

Michigan provides more specifically for agricultural instruc- 
tion in the township rural high schools, sanctioned by Act 144, 
1901, which provides that " the board shall have power: . . . 
to provide a course of study which shall be approved by the 
superintendent of public instruction and the president of the 
Michigan Agricultural College, and shall not consist of more 
than four years' work. Said course of study may include in- 
struction in manual training, domestic science, nature-study and 
the elements of agriculture."* 

The most recent and apparently most effective legislation in 
Minnesota is the act of the legislature of 1909 from which the 
following quotations are taken : 

To provide for the establishment and maintenance of depart- 
ments of agriculture, manual training, and domestic economy in 
state high, graded, and consolidated schools, and to authorize 
rural schools to become associated with such state, graded, or 
high schools and making appropriations therefor. 

Sec. I. Any state high school, graded, or consolidated rural 
school having satisfactory rooms and equipment and having 
shown itself fitted by location and otherwise to do agricultural 
work, may, upon application to the state high school board, be 
designated to maintain an agricultural department. 

Sec. 2. Each of such schools shall employ trained instructors 
in agriculture, manual training and domestic science (including 
cooking and sewing), and have connected therewith a tract of 
land suitable for a garden and purposes of experiment and 
demonstration, containing not less than 5 acres, and located 
within 2 miles of said buildings or within the school district. 

Sec. 3 provides that instruction in the industrial department 
shall be free to all residents in the state, thus not restricting 
its use to pupils from the district that helps to maintain the 
school. It provides also for short courses in the winter months 
and enumerates a wide range of topics that shall be treated. 

* [Michigan] Public Laws, Act 144, 1901, Sec. 4, Clause (g). 



Legislation Pertaining to Agricultural Instruction 187 

Sec. 4. Each of said schools shall receive state aid equal to 
two-thirds {%) of the amount actually expended upon such 
departments and vouched for, but in no case to exceed two 
thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500) per year. Not more than 
ten schools shall be aided the first year nor more than ten added 
to the list every two years thereafter. The special aid provided 
under this act shall be in lieu of all other aid for industrial 
training granted by the state to schools operating hereunder. 

Secs. 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11, provide a way for rural schools 
to consolidate or to attach themselves to a graded or state high 
school maintaining such an industrial department, such school 
then being known as a " central school." 

The Nebraska law approved April 5, 1907, provides that in 
county high schools " there shall be taught and practiced in the 
ninth and tenth grades, manual training, domestic science, and 
the elements of agriculture and in the eleventh and twelfth grades 
normal training and the theory and practice of agriculture for 
the purpose of teaching and practice. The board is hereby au- 
thorized to purchase the necessary apparatus and materials for 
this purpose, together with a tract of land not less than 5 acres, 
conveniently situated to said county school for actual practice 
by all the students or a part of the students under the direction 
of a competent instructor for experimentation in all forms of 
agriculture."^ 

The county board of commissioner supervisors constitutes the 
board of trustees of such county high schools, and tuition is 
free to all pupils residing in the county.*' 

In Oklahoma the legislation which became effective May 20, 
1908, is the most elaborate yet enacted for the promotion of agri- 
cultural instruction. While covering all fields of educational 
activity in the state, the nearest approach to a mention of agri- 
culture in the general high school is the phrase " the public 
schools." 

Pennsylvania^ — Every high school receiving aid from the 
state " shall employ for said high school at least one teacher 
legally certified to teach . . . chemistry, including chem- 

' School Laws of Nebraska (Elliott Digest), 1907, p. 43, (punctuated 
as there printed). 

'Chap. 122, April 5, 1907. 

'The Common School Laws of Pennsylvania, 1907, Sec. CXII, p. 54. 



i88 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

istry of soils . . ." (Twelve other subjects are also enu- 
merated.) 

The legislature of Texas in 1909 passed the following law 
providing state aid for establishing departments of agriculture, 
but expressly forbidding aid in maintaining them after the first 
year: 

It shall be the duty of the state board of education to dupli- 
cate by an appropriation out of money provided by this act, 
any amount not less than five hundred dollars ($500) and not 
more than two thousand dollars ($2,000) that shall have been 
appropriated and set apart by the trustees of any common school 
district for the purpose of establishing, equipping, and maintain- 
ing departments in their respective schools for giving instruction 
in agriculture, including such courses in manual training and 
domestic economy as are subsidiary to agriculture; provided, 
such appropriation or donation shall not be made more than 
twice to the same school, and provided that in granting such 
appropriations to high schools the state board of education shall 
consider the geographical location of the school applying, with 
a view of locating if possible one school in each of the sena- 
torial districts of the state. The board of trustees of a school 
seeking aid in establishing, equipping, and maintaining in their 
high schools a department for the teaching of agriculture, in- 
cluding such courses in manual training and domestic economy 
as are subsidiary to agriculture, shall provide ample room and 
laboratories for instruction in botany, zoology, and such other 
elementary sciences as are necessary to instruction in secondary 
agriculture, and shall provide a tract of land conveniently located, 
which shall be sufficiently large and well adapted to the produc- 
tion of farm and garden plants, and shall employ a teacher who 
has received special training in agriculture and allied branches. 
The state superintendent of public instruction shall make full 
and accurate investigation of the school property, appliances, 
and ground possessed by any board of trustees that may seek 
aid under the provisions of this act, and he shall also inquire 
into the qualifications of the teacher or teachers who are to give 
instruction in agriculture, manual training, and domestic economy 
in the school or schools seeking aid under the provisions of this 
act, and shall make a report of the result of his investigation 
to the state board of education, together with his conclusions and 
recommendations touching the same. The state board of edu- 
cation shall grant aid to those high schools that have complied 
with the provisions of this act and that have been recommended 
by the state superintendent of public instruction and that shall 



Legislation Pertaining to Agricultural Instruction 189 

give evidence that after the state aid is withdrawn the district 
will continue to maintain the department for instruction in agri- 
culture out of its own funds. ^ 

Section 6 of the same Act says : 

The sum of thirty-two thousand dollars ($32,000) or such 
part thereof as is necessary is hereby appropriated out of any 
money in the state treasury, not otherwise appropriated, for the 
year ending August 31, 1910, and thirty-two thousand dollars 
($32,000) or such part thereof as is necessary for the year 
ending August 31, 191 1, for the purpose of carrying out the 
provisions of article 5 of this act. 

Vermont has the following indefinite provision : " . . . and 
instruction may be given in political, social, moral, and industrial 
sciences . . . ,"^ although no high school yet teaches any- 
thing relating to the farming industry. However, the principal 
of Vermont Academy, at Saxton's River, conducted a small but 
enthusiastic class in agriculture in the year 1906-1907. 

Virginia has among other " requirements necessary to receive 
aid from the state high school fund " the following: " The course 
of study shall conform to the outline given herewith," which 
provides for elementary agriculture and lessons in botany and 
zoology for three periods a week through the second year, ele- 
ments of physics and elementary agriculture or elementary chem- 
istry and elementary agriculture for three periods a week through 
the third year, and the elements of chemistry or the science of 
agriculture for three periods a week through the fourth year.^" 

The Virginia legislature has appropriated " for high schools 
to be expended as per act creating public high schools, one hun- 
dred thousand dollars, provided that so much of the five hundred 
and seventy-five thousand dollars herein provided, for the sup- 
port of the public and high schools as may be necessary, not to 
exceed twenty thousand dollars, shall be devoted to the establish- 
ment of departments of agriculture, domestic economy, and 
manual training, in at least one high school in each congressional 



* School Laws of Texas, Sec. 12, p. 8. Acts of 31st Legislature, Chap 
113, Sec. 5. 

' General Laws of the State of Vermont Relating to Public Instruction, 
1907, Sec. 1016. 

*" Standard of Requirements for High Schools [Virginia], Board of 
Education, 1906. 



I go Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

district of the state, to be conducted under such rules and regu- 
lations as the state board of education and the president of Vir- 
ginia College of Agriculture and Polytechnic Institute may pre- 
scribe."" 



"Statutes of Virginia, Acts of 1908, p. 420. 



APPENDIX B 

LIST OF REFERENCES ON AGRICULTURAL 
EDUCATION 

Note, The following list contains references published, for 
the most part, during the last two or three years. In but few 
instances does it duplicate references given in the bibliographies 
attached to the studies by Dr. Jewell and by Professor Bailey, 
cited below. References to text-books, catalogues and publi- 
cations dealing primarily with work of the elementary grades 
have been omitted. These references have been classified top- 
ically by number on page 200. 

1. Abbey, M. J. Normal School Instruction in Agriculture. Office 

of Experiment Stations, circular no. 90, Dec. 16, 1909, pp. 31. 

2. Anderson, Leroy. Agriculture in the High Schools. University 

of California, College of Agriculture, circular no. 47, Nov., 1909, 
pp. 18. 

3. Babcock, E. B. Agriculture in Secondary Schools. Nature-Study 

Review, vol. 5, no. 8, Nov., 1909, pp. 210-218. 

4. Bailey, Liberty Hyde. On the Training of Persons to Teach 

Agriculture in the Public Schools. Bureau of Education, bul- 
letin no. I, 1908, pp. 52. 

4a. . Education by means of Agriculture in his Cyclopedia of 

American Agriculture, Vol. IV, chapter VIII, pp. 355-477. 

Gives the best general treatment extant of the early history of 
the movement. 

5. Balcomb, E. E. Some Means of Awakening and Maintaining an 

Interest in Agricultural Education. National Education Associa- 
tion. Journal of proceedings and addresses, 1909, pp. 959-963- 

6. Barto, D. O. The Preparation of Teachers of Agriculture for the 

Public Schools of Illinois, pp. 8. Published by the University 
of Illinois. 

7. Bishop, E. C. The Present Status of Agricultural Education in 

the Public Schools. National Education Association. Journal of 
proceedings and addresses, 1909, pp. 976-982. 

8. Bricker, George A. Elementary Agriculture in the New Holland 

High School. Ohio State University, Agricultural College, Ex- 
tension Bulletin, vol. 3, no. 7, March 1908, pp. 3-6. 

191 



192 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

8a. — ' . The Teaching of Agriculture in the High School, pp. 202, 

New York, 1910. 
g. Brown, Elmer Ellsworth. Making of Our Middle Schools. 

PP- 335 et seq. 

10. . Some Notes on Agricultural Education. National Educa- 
tion Association. Journal of proceedings and addresses, 1908, 
pp. I 199-1202. 

11. BuTTERFiELD, Kenyon L. Agricultural Education in the Schools. 

Transactions of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society for 1908, 
I, pp. 111-121. 

12. Caldwell, Otis W. The Course in General Elementary Science 

for the First Year of the High School. Proceedings of the 
Ninth Meeting of the Central Association of Science and Mathe- 
matics Teachers, 1909, pp. 1 15-127. 

13. Clute, W. N. What One Class in Agronomy Did. School Science 

and Mathematics, vol. 9, no. 8, Nov. 1909, pp. 731-735- 

14. Cook, G. B. The Agricultural and Industrial Educational Move- 

ment in the South. Proceedings of the Conference on Educa- 
tion in the South, 1909, pp. 69-84. 

15. Cook, J. W. Progress of Education for the Year. National Edu- 

cation Association. Journal of proceedings and addresses, 1909, 

PP- 390-397- 

16. Cook, O. F. Agriculture the Basis of Education. Monist, July 

1907, pp. 347-364- [Reprint.] 
i6a. Crocheron, B. H. Laboratory and Field Work in the Agricultural 
High School. National Education Association. Journal of pro- 
ceedings and addresses, 1910, pp. 1089- 1093. 

17. Crosby, Dick J. Progress in Agricultural Education, 1906. An- 

nual Report of the Office of Experiment Stations, 1906, pp. 213- 
300. [Reprint.] 

18. — ■ . Progress in Agricultural Education, 1907. Annual Report 

of the Office of Experiment Stations, 1907, pp. 237-306. [Re- 
print.] 

19. : . Progress in Agricultural Education, 1908. Annual re- 

port of the Office of Experiment Stations, 1908, pp. 231-288. 
[Reprint.] 
19a. . Progress in Agricultural Education, 1909. Annual re- 
port of the Office of Experiment Stations, 1909, pp. 251-325. 
[Reprint.] 

20. . Special Agricultural High Schools. National Education 

Association. Journal of proceedings and addresses, 1909, pp. 
974-976. 

20a. . The Place of the Agricultural High School in the System 

of Public Education. National Education Association. Journal 
of proceedings and addresses, 1910, pp. 1103-1107. 



List of References on Agricultural Education 193 

21. . The Use of Illustrative Material in Teaching Agriculture 

in Rural Schools. Yearbook of Department of Agriculture, 1905, 
pp. 257-274. [Reprint.] 

22. — ■ . The Work of the National Government in Extending 

Agricultural Education through Public Schools. National Edu- 
cation Association. Journal of proceedings and addresses, 1907, 
pp. 1063-1069. 
22a. Cyclopedia of Education. Article on Agricultural Education in 
Vol. I, pp. 58-68. 

23. Davenport, Eugene. Education for Efficiency, pp. 184, Boston, 

1909. 

The most elaborate discussion yet presented on the theory 
and bearing of agriculture on secondary education. 

24. Davis, Benjamin Marshall. Agricultural Education : State Nor- 

mal Schools. Elementary School Teacher, vol. 10, no. 8, April 
1910, pp. 376-387. 

25. . Agricultural Education : United States Bureau of Edu- 
cation. State Departments of Education. State legislation. 
Elementary School Teacher, vol. 10, no. 4, Dec. 1909, pp. 163-176. 

26. . Agricultural Education : The United States Department 

of Agriculture. Elementary School Teacher, Nov. 1909, pp. loi- 
109. 

These articles by Dr. Davis present a concise summary of 
the entire field. They have since been issued with others in 
book form by the University of Chicago Press under the title 
of Recent Developments in Agricultural Education. 

27. . What Constitutes Successful Work in Agriculture in Rural 

Schools? National Education Association. Journal of proceed- 
ings and addresses, 1908, pp. 1188-1194. 

A questionaire study. 

28. . In the Report of the United States Commissioner of Edu- 
cation for the year 1909, vol. i, pp. 142-143, on agricultural 
teaching in California. 

29. Draper, Andrew S. Agriculture and Its Educational Needs. The 

School Bulletin and New York Educational Journal, vol. 35, 
no. 5, Jan. 1909, pp. 84-90. [Issued in book form.] 

30. Dunton, a. M. Agriculture in Rural Schools. Northwestern 

Agriculturist, vol. 24 (1909), no. 6, pp. 7, 8; and no. 7, p. 3. 

31. Fletcher, S. W. An Elementary Course in Horticulture for the 

Schools of Michigan. Published by the state superintendent of 
public instruction, bulletin no. 28, 1908, pp. 31. 

32. Fowler, Frederick H. Early Agricultural Education in Massa- 

chusetts. 54th annual report of the Massachusetts State Board 
of Agriculture, pp. 331-392. [Reprinted as Public Document 
no. 4.] 



194 Agricultural Instruction in tJie Public High Schools 

33. French, W. H. Agriculture in the High Schools of Michigan. 

Michigan Agricultural College, Department of Agricultural Edu- 
cation, bulletin no. 2, pp. 12. 

33a. . Report of the Michigan State Commission on Industrial 

and Agricultural Education. Lansing, Dec. 1910, pp. 94. 

34. Georgia. District Agricultural Schools of Georgia. Bulletin of 

the University of Georgia, vol. 7, no. 11, July 1907, supplement, 
pp. 47. 

35. Giles, F. M. The Teaching of Agriculture in the High School. 

School Review, vol. 17, no. 3, 1909, pp. 154-165. 

36. Graham, A. B. Agriculture in High Schools. Nature-Study Re- 

view, vol. 4, no. 3, March 1908, pp. 65-70. 

37. Green, Samuel B. Course in Fruit Growing for Movable Schools 

of Agriculture. Office of Experiment Stations, bulletin no. 178, 
pp. 100. 

38. Guss, R. W. Physics and Agriculture. Proceedings of the con- 

ference on agricultural science. Amherst, Mass., July 1908, 
pp. 29-34. 

39. Hamilton, John. Form or Organization for Movable Schools of 

Agriculture. Office of Experiment Stations, circular no. 79, 1908, 
pp. 8. 

40. . History of Farmers' Institutes in the United States. Office 

of Experiment Stations, bulletin no. 174, pp. 96. 

41. Harbourt, S. a. Agriculture in the High School. Journal of 

Education [Boston], vol. 70, no. 16, 1909, pp. 430-431. 

42. Hart, W. R. Educational Agriculture, pp. 16. 

43. < . The Place and Function of Agriculture in the Curriculum. 

Nature-Study Review, vol. 5, no. 6, 1909, pp. 161-164. 

44. . Science Teaching in Some of the Smaller High Schools : 

in the Seventy-first annual report of the Massachusetts Board of 
Education. [Reprint 5 pages.] (Bound with 67, on page 196.) 

45. Haskell, Sidney B. Relation of the Physical Sciences to Agri- 

culture. Proceedings of the second annual conference on agri- 
culture science. Amherst, Mass., July 1909, pp. 44-49. 

46. Hays, Willet M. Our Farmer Youth and the Public Schools. 

American Monthly Review of Reviews, Oct. 1903, pp. 449-455. 

47. 1 . Agriculture, Industries, and Home Economics in Our Pub- 

lic Schools. National Education Association. Journal of pro- 
ceedings and addresses, 1908, pp. 177-190. 

48. — ■■ . Country Life Education. Address before the Pennsylvania 

State Board of Agriculture, Jan. 23, 1907. Office of Experiment 
Stations, circular no. 72i< PP- I3- 

49. . History of Secondary Agricultural Education. Proceed- 
ings of the twenty-eighth annual meeting of the Society for the 
promotion of Agricultural Science, 1907, pp. 73-83. 



List of References on Agricultural Education 195 

50. . Education for Country Life. Department of Agriculture, 

Office of Experiment Stations, circular no. 84, Aug. 23, 1909, 
pp. 40. 

51. Howe, F. W. School Agriculture in Its Relation to the Community. 

Rural Life Conference, 1909, Charlottesville, Va., pp. 66-71. 

51a. . . Agriculture as First Year Science. [Editorial in] OfUce 

of Experiment Stations Record, vol. 23, no. 3, pp. 201-209, Sept. 
1910. 

52. Hunt, T. F. Agriculture in Secondary Schools. Annual Report 

of the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, vol. 13, 1907, 
pp. 382-395- 

53. James, Hon. C C. Deputy Minister of Agriculture for Ontario. 

Teaching of the Elements of Agriculture in the Common Schools. 
Address delivered at the meeting of the Farmers' National 
Congress, at Boston, Oct. 5, 1899, and printed by the Massa- 
chusetts Board of Agriculture, pp. 15. 

54. . The Teaching of Agriculture. Annual report of the On- 
tario Agricultural and Experiment Union, 1907, pp. 75-94. 

55. Jeffery, Joseph A. An Elementary Laboratory Study in Crops, 

for the Schools of Michigan. Published by the state superin- 
tendent of public instruction, bulletin no. 26, 1907, pp. 28. 

56. ' . An Elementary Laboratory Study in Soils, for the Schools 

of Michigan. Published by the state superintendent of public 
instruction, bulletin no. 27, 1908, pp. 36. 

57. Jewell, James Ralph. Agricultural Education. Bureau of Edu- 

cation, bulletin no. 2, 1907, pp. 140. 
Has a good general view of the work in foreign countries. 

58. Johnson, Riley O. One Hundred Experiments in Elementary 

Agriculture for California Schools. State Normal School, Chico, 
Cal., 1909, pp. 42. 

59. Kays, Victor L. The John Swaney School. Nature-Study Re- 

view, vol. 4, no. 9, Dec. 1908, pp. 271-275. 

60. Kern, O. J. The Consolidated School and the New Agriculture. 

National Education Association. Journal of proceedings and 
addresses, 1907, pp. 277-279. 

61. Main, Josiah. A Manual for High Schools, with Reference to 

Science and Agriculture. University of Tennessee, 1909, pp. 32. 
6la. — i . Educational Agriculture. Western State Normal [Quar- 
terly, Hays, Kansas.] vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 74, Sept. 1910. 

62. . Agriculture in the High School. School Science and 

Mathematics, vol. 10, no. 3, March 1910, pp. 217-228. 

63. — ■ . The Correlation of High-School Science and Agriculture. 

National Education Association. Journal of proceedings and 
addresses, 1909, pp. 983-987. 



196 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

64. I . University Extension in Tennessee High Schools. The 

School Review, vol. 18, no. i, Jan. 1910, pp. 29-35. 

65. Massachusetts Agricultural College. Department of Agricul- 

tural Education. Proceedings of the Conference on Agricultural 
Science in the Summer School of Agriculture, Amherst, Mass., 
July 1908, pp. 43. Press of Carpenter and Morehouse, Amherst, 
Mass., 1908. 

66. . Proceedings of the Second Annual Conference on Agri- 

tural Science in the Summer School of Agriculture, Amherst, 
Mass., July 1909, pp. 58. Press of Carpenter and Morehouse, 
Amherst, Mass., 1910. 

67. Massachusetts. PubHc School Agriculture. Report of committee 

appointed at conference on Agricultural Science, Amherst, Mass., 
1908, pp. 38. Massachusetts Agricultural College, 1909. 
67a. Massachusetts. Report of the Board of Education on Agricultural 
Education. January i, 191 1, pp. 97. 

A very good discussion from a professedly local viewpoint, 
but presenting an interesting constructive policy for work in 
secondary schools. 

68. Massachusetts Council of Education. The Relation of the 

Massachusetts High School to Community Needs, with Special 
Reference to the Demand for So-Called Practical Subjects; 
abstract from a report of a special committee, in the seventy- 
first annual report of the Massachusetts Board of Education. 
[30 p. reprint.] 

69. McDonald, W. Agricultural Education in America, pp. vii and 

162, New York, 1909. 

General Survey of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, en- 
dowments, farmers' institutes, and agricultural education in 
Minnesota. 

70. Michigan. Department of Agricultural Education. Michigan 

Agricultural College. A Course in Agriculture for the High 
Schools of Michigan, 1908, pp. 36; 1909, pp. 48. 

71. Michigan. State Superintendent of Public Instruction. County 

Schools of Agriculture in Michigan, Bulletin no. 24, 1907, pp. li. 

72. ' . Township Rural High Schools in Michigan, Bulletin no. 25, 

1907, pp. 17- 

73. National Education Association. Report of the committee on 

industrial education in schools for rural communities, to the 
National council of education. [Winona, Minn.] Published by 
the association, 1905, pp. 97. 

74. — . . Report of the committee on industrial education in schools 

for rural communities, to the National council of education, 1907. 
Journal of proceedings and addresses, 1907, pp. 409-454. 



List of References on Agricultural Education 197 

74a. . Report of the committee on encouraging college entrance 

credit in high school agriculture. Journal of proceedings and 
addresses, 1910, pp. 480-483. 

75. — ■ . 1908. Journal of proceedings and addresses, 1908, pp. 

385-447- 

76. . Reports of the committee on six-year course of study. 

Journal of proceedings and addresses, 1907, pp. 705-710; 1908, 
pp. 625-628; 1909, pp. 498-503. 

Treats of differentiation at the age of twelve. 

77. New York State Education Department, Albany. Agriculture 

syllabus for secondary schools, 1907, pp. ^7. 

78. Owen, C. J. Secondary Agricultural Education in Alabama. 

Office of Experiment Stations, bulletin no. 220, Nov. 19, 1909, 
pp. 30. 

79. Ontario. Report of Inspection of the Agricultural Departments 

in the High Schools : being Appendix "AI" to the Report of the 
Minister of Education, 1907, pp. 952-966. [Reprint.] 

80. Peet, C. E. What Shall the First- Year High-School Science Be? 

National Education Association. Journal of proceedings and 
addresses, 1909, pp. 809-816. 

81. PoE, C. H. The Agricultural Revolution and the Teacher's Part in 

It. Rural Life Conference, 1909, Charlottesville, Va., pp. 72-83. 

82. Rankin, Fred H. Developing the American Farm Boy: address 

delivered December 7, 1905. Published by the University of 
Illinois, pp. 26. 

83. RoBisoN, Clarence Hall. Administrative Phases of Agricultural 

Instruction; in proceedings of the conference on agricultural 
science, Amherst, Mass., July 1908. pp. 14-28. 

84. . Some Text-books for Secondary School Agriculture. 

Nature-Study Review, vol. 3, no. 6, Sept. 1907, pp. 180-185. 

85. Sanderson, E. Dwight. Biological Sciences in Their Relation to 

Agricultural Science. Proceedings of the second annual con- 
ference on agricultural science, Amherst, Mass., July 1909, 
pp. 50-58. 

86. Seerley, H. H. National Aid in the Preparation of Teachers of 

Agriculture for the Public Schools. National Education Asso- 
ciation. Journal of proceedings and addresses, 1909, pp. 965-968. 

87. Snyder, Edward Reagan. The Legal Status of Rural High Schools 

in the United States. Columbia University Contributions to 
Education, no. 24, pp. 225. 

88. Spalding, Edith H. The Problem of Rural Schools and Teachers 

in North America. Board of Education [London], Educational 
Pamphlet no. 13, pp. 70. 

This represents an English point of view and is largely devoted 
to Canadian conditions. 



198 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

89. Stevens, F. L. The Farmers' Institute with Relation to Agricul- 

tural High Schools. The United States Department of Agri- 
culture, Office of Experiment Stations, bulletin no. 213, pp. 53-57. 

90. Stewart, Joseph S. First Annual Report of the Congressional 

District Agricultural Schools of Georgia. Bulletin of the Uni- 
versity of Georgia, vol. 10, no. 4a, Dec. 1909, pp. 48. 

91. Storm, A. V. Public School Agriculture. Iowa Yearbook of Agri- 

culture, 1908, pp. 84-90. 

92. Thorndike, Edward Lee. A Neglected Aspect of the American 

High School. Educational Review, vol. 33, March 1907, pp. 

245-255- 

93. • . The Teaching Staff of Secondary Schools in the United 

States. Bureau of Education, bulletin no. 4, 1909, pp. 60. 

94. TowNSEND, E. J. The Status of the High School and Its Relation 

to Colleges and Universities. National Education Association. 
Journal of proceedings and addresses, 1909, pp. 794-799. 

95. True, A. C. Notes on the History of Agricultural Pedagogy in 

the United States. Proceedings of the 28th annual meeting of 
the Society for the promotion of Agricultural Science, 1907, 
pp. 84-106. [Reprint.] 

96. . Progress in Secondary Education in Agriculture. Annual 

report of the Office of Experiment Stations, 1902, pp. 481-500. 
[Reprint.] 

97. — . . Progress in Agricultural Education. Annual report of the 

Office of Experiment Stations, 1903, pp. 574-634. 

98. . Progress in Agricultural Education. Annual report of the 

Office of Experiment Stations, 1904, pp. 576-616. [Reprint.] 

99. — • , Progress in Agricultural Education. Annual report of the 

Office of Experiment Stations, 1905, pp. 303-357. [Reprint.] 

100. . Secondary Education in Agriculture in the United States. 

Department of Agriculture, Office of Experiment Stations, cir- 
cular no. 91, Nov. 8, 1909, pp. II. 
loi. . What is Agriculture, Elementary, Secondary, and Collegi- 
ate? National Education Association. Journal of proceedings 
and addresses, 1908, pp. 1202-1207. 

102. ' and Crosby, Dick J. The American System of Agricultural 

Education. Department of Agriculture, Office of Experiment 
Stations, circular no. 83, May 27, 1909, pp. 27. 

103. United States Bureau of Education. Benjamin Franklin's "Pro- 

posals Relative to the Education of the Youth in Pennsylvania," 
1749. Quoted in circular no. 2, 1892, pp. 62. 

104. — < . Report of the Commissioner of Education for the year 

ending June 30, 1908, pp. 740-741. 

105. . Secondary Education in the Report of the Commissioner 

of Education for the year ending June 30, 1909, pp. 146-149. 



List of References on Agricultural Education 199 

105a. . Agricultural Education in the Report of the Commissioner 

of Education for the year ending June 30, 1910, pp. 255-278. 

106. United States Department of Agriculture. Experiment Station 

Record. In its editorial, vol. 20, no. 10, May 1909, pp. 901-905. 

107. . Federal Legislation, Regulations, and Rulings Afifecting 

Agricultural Colleges and Experiment Stations. Office of Ex- 
periment Stations, circular no. 68, July 6, 1907, pp. 20. 

108. . Institutions in the United States Giving Instruction in 

Agriculture. Office of Experiment Stations, Oct. 17, 1908, 
pp. 10. 

109. . Institutions in the United States Giving Instruction in 

Agriculture. Circular no. 97, May 23, 1910. 

no. . Organization, Work, and Publications of the Agricultural 

Education Service, corrected to December i, 1909. Office of 
Experiment Stations, circular no. 93, Jan. 13, 1910, pp. 15. 

Report of the Committee on Extension Work, 1906-1907. 



Office of Experiment Stations, circular no. 75, Aug. 16, 1907, 
pp. 16. 

112. . Secondary Courses in Agriculture. Seventh report of the 

committee on methods of teaching agriculture, of the Association 
of American Agricultural Colleges and Experiment Stations. 
Office of Experiment Stations, circular no. 49, pp. 10. 

113. . A Secondary Course in Agronomy. Eleventh report of 

the committee on instruction in agriculture of the American 
Association of Agricultural Colleges and Experiment Stations. 
Office of Experiment Stations, circular no. 77, pp. 43. 

114. Warren, G. H. Agriculture for High Schools. Proceedings of 

the second annual conference on agricultural science, Amherst, 
Mass., July 1909, pp. 32-43. 

114a. I . The Place of Agriculture in the Public High Schools. 

National Education Association. Journal of proceedings and ad- 
dresses, 1910, pp. 1094-1103. 

115. Waters, H. J. The Duty of the Agricultural College. Science, 

new series, vol. 30, no. 778, 1909, pp. 777-789. 

Inaugural address at Kansas Agricultural College. 
115a. Whitney, Worrallo. Relation of Pure and Applied Science to 
Secondary Education. School Science and Mathematics, vol. 10, 
no. 5, pp. 369-381, May 1910. 

116. Wellington, Charles. Chemistry and Agriculture. In proceed- 

ings of the conference on agricultural science, Amherst, Mass., 
July 1908, pp. 35-43. 

117. WiLLSEY, Cora M. A Suggested Course in Agriculture. In papers 

and discussions by county normal training class teachers in 
Michigan. Published by the state superintendent of public in- 
struction, bulletin no. 21, 1907, pp. 21-31. 



aoo Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 

Topical List of References 
[The numbers refer to the paragraphs of the foregoing list] 
Agriculture and the high school, 3, 12, i6a, 20a, 23, 34a, 35, 47, 50, 51a, 52, 

60, 61, 6ia, 62, 63, 65, 67a, 68, 73, 80, 83, 114, 114a, 115a. 
Agriculture and the special sciences, 34a, 38, 45, Sia, 65, 66, 85, 115a, 116. 
Bibliography of agricultural education. 4, 17, 24, 25, 26, 57, no. 

Boys' and girls' clubs, garden work, etc., 3, 5, 7, 57, 73, 74. 

Curricula for high schools, tentative, 23, 48, 50, 61, 6ia, 71, 96, 100, 112, 

114a. 
Experimental laboratory studies, i, 17, 31, 37, 53, 54, 58, 67, 77, 112, 113. 
Historical references, 4, 4a, 9, 15, 32, 40, 57, 78, 95, 103. 
Individual public high schools : 

Cecil County, Maryland, 17, 20, 75. 

John Svi^aney School, 19, 59, 75. 

Norton County High School, Kansas, 21, 99. 

Petersham High School, Massachusetts, 17, 71. 

Waterford Tow^nship High School, Pennsylvania, 18, 20, 21, 75. 

Others, 2, 3, 8, 18, 19, 19a, 30, 33, 41, 64, 79, 96, loi, 102, 105, 106, 
108, 109. 
Individual special schools, 3, 17, 18, 19, 19a, 34, 75, 78, 90, loi, 102, 105, 
108, 109. 

The special school, 11, 23, 47, 50. 
Laboratory equipment, suggested lists of, 55, 56, 61, 6ia, 64, 67, 70, 72, 77. 
Legislation, 4, 7, 15, 19, 20a, 25, 34, 47, 57, 67a, 71, 72, 74, 86, 105, 107. 
Preparation of teachers, 4, 6, 18, 19, 24, 73, 86, 93, 103a, 106, 114a, 115. 
Private schools, 19, 57, 96, 102, 105, 108. 

Readings, suggested lists of, 2, 23, 34, 37, 38, 52, 61, 67, 70, 71, 72. 
Syllabi for high school courses in agriculture, 2, 17, 23, 31, 48, 50, 55, 56, 

61, 67, 71, 72, 72,, 77, 96, 98, 99, 100, 112, 113, 117. 

Theory of agricultural education, 5, 7, 10, 11, 13, 16, 20, 20a, 23, 27, 29, 
36, 42, 43, 46, 48, 51, 53, 54, 6ia, 67a, 70, 74, 81, 82, 91, loi, 114a, lis. 



INDEX 



(See also List of References, pages 191-200) 



Adams Act, 7-9 

Administration, 14, 85 ff., 145; of 
small high schools, 90; difficul- 
ties of, 169, 176 

Agricultural colleges, 6-8; confer- 
ences, 114; entrance to, 151; 
graduates of, teaching agricul- 
ture, 102-103; salaries of gradu- 
ates of, 108; teachers' courses 
in, 111-113. See under each 
state. 

Agricultural education: definition of, 
4; college courses in, definition, 
IIS; historical sketch of, 4-8; 
present agencies of, 8 ff. 

Agricultural schools, 10, 117-142; 
aims of, 15; charitable, 14; con- 
trol of, 119- 127; definition of, 15, 
20, 125; faculties of, 141-142; 
private, 14 ; their relation to high 
schools, 145, 182; types of, 117- 
119; use of term of, 15, 17-20. 
See under Legislation, Support, 
Alabama, California, Georgia, 
Michigan, Minnesota, New York, 
Oklahoma, and Wisconsin. 

Agriculture : in elementary schools, 
10, 13, 143, 167-169; number of 
schools teaching, 23 ff. ; as a sep- 
arate high-school study, 22 ff. ; 
taught incidentally, 29 ff. ; its re- 
lation to curriculum, 88-93, 158- 
169; State Board of, 9. See 
Agricultural schools, Agricul- 
tural education, Electives, En- 
rollment, High schools. 

Alabama, 7, 10, 15 ; congressional 
district schools, 17, 19, 22, 25, 
32, 86, 89, 119, 128-130, 142, 151, 
189; University of, 155 

Albert Lea, Minn., 17 

Alexandria, Minn., 17 

Alfred, N. Y. (State Agricultural 
School), 118, 125 

Alpha. O. (Beaver Creek township 
high school), 52-53 



Andover, Mass., 6 

Apparatus, 95-97; of special schools, 
130, 135-137, 169, 171-193- 

Appomatox, Va., 21 

Arcadia, La., 16 

Arizona, 7 

Arkansas, 7, 25, 118, 121; agricul- 
tural requirements in, 10 

Athens. Ala., 19, 32, 189 

Attitude of community, 176-179, 184 

Bailey, L. H., 4, iii 

Baron De Hirsch School, 11 

Bay Springs, Miss., 124 

Beaver Creek township high school. 
See Alpha 

Beaverhead County high school, see 
Dillon 

Bedford Springs, Va., 21 

Bernardstown, Mass., 6 

Bishop, E. C, 30 

Boarding students, 150-151, 182 

Botany, 39, 91, 157, 158 ff. 

Boys' clubs, 10 

Buena Vista, Miss., 124 

Bunkie, La., 16 

Burkeville, Va., 21 

Bussey Institute, 6 

Button, H. F., instructor at Water- 
ford, 79, 83 

California, 22, 25, 118, 126, 144, 157, 
162; state agricultural school, 
118, 126; University of, 7, 155 

Calvert, Md. (Cecil County high 
school), 18, 86, 144 

Camden, Miss., 124 

Canby, Minn., 17 

Canton, N. Y. (State Agricultural 
School), 118, 125 

Cecil County high school, see Cal- 
vert 

Chester, Va., 21 

Cokato, Minn., 17 

College entrance credit, 151-157 

Colorado, 7 

201 



202 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 



Columbia University, 5. Preface. 
See King's College 

Committee : on industrial education 
in schools for rural communi- 
ties, 4, 196; on encouraging col- 
lege entrance credit in high 
school agriculture, 153, 196; on 
six-year course of study, 196 

Congressional districts, 14, 17, 25, 
117 143 ff- 

Connecticut, 6; agricultural college, 
7, 112 

Cornell University, 9, 83, 155 

Correlation, see Sciences 

Correspondence courses, 10 

Coulter, Prof. John M., 159-160 

County Agricultural Society of New 
Hampshire, 9 

County high schools, agricultural, 25, 
118, 121-125; general, 16, 26, 
27-29, 31, 143 ff-, 187 

Crookston, Mich., 118, 126 

Crosby, D. J., 4, see Preface 

Curriculum, 15, 88-93, 144, 148, 182, 
183; difficulties of, 158-169; of 
agricultural schools of Alabama, 
15, 129; Georgia, 133; Okla- 
homa, 138; Wisconsin, 139-140; 
of high schools at McNabb, 111., 
65 ; Panora, la., 72 ; Petersham, 
Mass., 63; Waterford, Pa., 77 

Davenport, Eugene. 125, 193 

Davis Bill, 149-150 

Davis, Calif., 118, 126 

Delaware, 7 

Delinquents, 14 

Denton, Tex., 118 

Derby, Conn., 6 

Differentiation at twelve, 2, 168, 183 

Dillon, Mont., Beaverhead County 

high school, 19, 86, 144 
Dodson, La., 16 
Driver, Va., 21 
Dummer Academy, 6 
Dunn County agricultural school. 

See Wisconsin 

Educational Review, ref., 13 

Electives, 91 

Elk Creek, Va., 21 

Enrollment, 31-38, 78; special 

schools, 135, 151 
Equipment, see Apparatus 
Experimental work, 41, 95-99, 187 



Experiment Stations, 7, 9 

Farm school, 6 

Farmers' Institutes, 8 ff. 

Florida, 7; agricultural requirements 

in, 10 
French, W. H., 18 

Gale, Rev., 6 

Gardens, 98-99, 183, 187 

Georgia, 8, 10, 118; congressional 
district schools, 17, 25, 119, 131- 
136, 142, 152; University of, 155 

Glencoe, Minn., 17 

Graham, A. B., 22, 37 

Grove City, O., 43-45 

Guthrie County high school, see 
Panora 

Hamilton, John, g 

Hampton Institute, 11 

Hampton, Va., 21 

Hart, W. R., 18 

Harvard College^ 6 

Harvey, L. D., 4, 123 

Hatch Act, 6, 8 

Hawaii, 7 

Hays, W. M., 4, 146 

High schools (general); lists of, i; 
note, 3 ; classification of, 27 ; 
number of, teaching agriculture, 
27 ; types, 13-14. See County, 
Enrollment, Teachers, Town- 
ships 

Hinckley, Minn., 17 

Hope Villa, La., 16 

Howe, F. W. See Preface, 114 

Idaho, 7 

Illinois, 19, 22, 60, 64-71, 83-84, 86, 
144. 156, 165; University of, 7, 
10, 84. 112 ff„ 153. 17s 

Indiana, 5, 18, 22, 144, 156, 177 ; ag- 
ricultural college, see Purdue 
University; University of, 153 

Industrial education : definition of, 
4; N. E. A. Committee on, 4; 
National Society for, 168 

Industries of communities, 179 

Iowa, 7, 19, 22, 56-59, 71-75, 144, 156; 
agricultural college, 83-84; Uni- 
versity of, 154 

Jacoby, La., 16 
James. McN. C, 70 
Jewell, J. R., ref., 10 
John Swaney School, see McNabb, 
III. 



Index 



203 



Kansas, 16, 19, 22, 156, 185; agricul- 
tural college, 8; University of, 

115, 154, 156 

Kentucky, 7 

Kern, O. J., 60 

Kimball, Neb., 21 

Kings College, Columbia Univer- 
sity, 5 

Kossuth, Miss., 124 

Lake Charles, La., 32, 89 

Land-grant Colleges. See Agricul- 
tural colleges, 6-7 

Lebanon, Va., 21 

Lee's Creek, O., 50-52 

Leesville, La., 16 

Legislation, 16, 143, 182 ; of agricul- 
tural colleges, 6-8, 187 ; for agri- 
culture in high schools, 185-190 
(digest) ; in elementary schools, 
lO; federal, 6, 9. See Adams 
Act, Davis Bill, Hatch Act, 
Morrill Acts, Nelson Act, 
County and Township high 
schools 

Lewiston, Minn., 17 

Louisiana, 7, 10. 16, 22, 25, 31-32, 89, 
109 

Maclure, Wm., 5 

Mcintosh, Wm., 17 

McNabb, 111. (John Swaney School), 
19, 60, 64-71, 86, 144, 165 

Maine, 9, 21, 143, 185; University 
of, 112 

Maine Farmer, 9 

Manasses, Va., 21, 83 

Manual training, 143, 146, 185-186, 188 

Marinette, Wis., 122 

Maryland, 7, 18, 25, 86, 144 

Massachusetts, 6-7, 11, 18-19, 25, 60- 
64, 119; agricultural college, 7, 
112 ff. ; Industrial Commission, 
117; Society for Promoting Ag- 
riculture, 9 

Menominee, Mich., 118 

Menomonie. Wis. See Wisconsin 

Merryville La., 16 

Methods problems, 173-176, 183 

Miami University, 153 

Michigan, 16, 18, 25, 31, 48-49, 55-56, 
86, 118, 143-144, 147, 153, 156, 
165, 186; agricultural college, 6, 
7, 112 ff. ; county agricultural 
school, 121, 139-140, 152; Uni- 
versity of, 153 



Middletown, Va., 21 

Minnesota, 16, 17, 25, 125, 143-144, 
152, 156; county agricultural 
school, 118, 123; state agricul- 
tural school, 126, 152; Univer- 
sity of, 112, 115, 154 

Mississippi, 10, 17, 19, 22, 25; agri- 
cultural college, 8, 115; county 
high schools, 19, 118, 123-125 

Missouri, 10, 21, 25, 35, 86, 103-106; 
University of, 7, 113 ff., 154 

Mitchel, Samuel Latham, 7 

Monroe, W. S., ref., 5 

Montague, Mass., 18 

Montana, 7, 19, 22, 86, 144 

Montour Falls, N. Y., 6 

Moody, D. L., 11 

Morrill Act, 7 

Morrisville, N. Y. (State Agricul- 
tural School), 118, 125 

Mt. Hermon School, 11 

Nebraska, 3, 17, 21-22, 30, 32, 35, 86, 
103-106, 144, 147, 178, 187; Uni- 
versity of, 7, 155 

Neef, Joseph, 5 

Nelson Act, 7 

Nevada, 7 

Newberry, Mass., 6 

New Hampshire, 7, 9, 18, 86 

New Harmony Movementj 5 

New Holland, O., 45-47 

New Jersey, 7, 10, 20, 22, 12$ 

New Mexico, 7 

New York, 6, 7, 17, 18, 22, 25, 28, 
114, 118, 125, 144, 147, 156, 177; 
state agricultural college, see 
Cornell University; local agri- 
cultural schools; 118; state 
schools, 127 

North Adams, Mich., 18, 86, 144 

North Carolina, 7, 10, 22, 168 

North Dakota, 22, 44; agricultural 
college, 7, 112 ff 

Northampton, Mass., 119 

Norton, Kas., 19 

Oakland, Miss., 19, 125. See Yalo- 
busha County high school 

Odell, 111.. 83-84, 165 

Ohio, 3, 22, 25, 30, 35, 43, 45-48, 50- 
55, 86, 103-106,^ 144, 153, 156; 
Ohio State University, 7, 153, 
157, 174 



204 Agricultural Instruction in the Public High Schools 



Oklahoma, lo, 21, 86, 187; agricul- 
tural college, 7, 115; judicial dis- 
trict schools, 25, 117, 136-138, 
142, 147, 168 

Onalaska, Wis., 122 

Oneida Manual Labor Institute, see 
Gale 

Oregon, 7, 22 

Pandora, O. (Riley township high 
school), 53-55 

Panora, la. (Guthrie County high 
school), 19, 71-75, 86, 144 

Pedagogy, 2, 112, 184. See Methods 

Peet, C. E., 162 

Pennsylvania, 7, 19, 22, 25, 60, 7S-83, 
86, 188; Society for Promoting 
Agriculture, 8 ; University of, 
see Philadelphia Academy 

Peoples' College, 6 

Pestalozzi, 5 

Petersham, Mass., 18, 19, 60-64, 144 

Philadelphia Academy (University 
of Pennsylvania), 5 

Physical geography, 39, 89 ff. 

Poplarville, Miss., 125 

Powers Institute, 6 

Purdue University, Ii2ff., 153 

Questionaire, 3 

Red Wing, Minn., 17 

Reference books, loi 

Rhode Island, 7 

Riley township high school. See 

Pandora 
Roosevelt, quoted 13 

Sac City, la., 56-59 

Sachs, Julius, 4 

Salaries, see under Agricultural col- 
leges and Teachers in high 
schools 

Sampson, H. O., 83 

St. Louis, Mich., 55-56, 165 

San Luis Obispo, Calif., 118, 126 

Schools visited, 42-84 

Sciences, 39-40. 158-167 

Scott, E. H., 61 

Secondary schools, types of, li. See 
Agricultural schools, High 
schools 

Sheffield Scientific School, 6 

Short courses, 8-10 

Snedden, D. S., 148. See Preface 

Smith, Wm., 4, ref., 5 



Snyder, E. R., 35 ref. 

Source material, 3 

South Carolina, 7, 10 

South Dakota, 7, 10, 22 

South Lyon, Mich., 48-49 

State Agricultural Societies of New 

Hampshire and New York, 9 
Statistics, 3. See Tables, p. vii 
Stevens, Prof. F. L., 168 
Stonewall, La., 16 
Support : of public high schools, 16- 

17, ig, 20, 22, 185, 187, 189; of 

special schools, 1 18-127. See 

Davis Bill. 

Teachers ; elementary, 13 ; college 
courses for, 111-113 

Teachers in high schools, 92-95, 184 ; 
in special schools, 136, 141-142; 
lack of, 169, 172 ; number of 
classes of, 93 ; official position 
of, 93, 106; preparation of, 102- 

103, 111-116; salaries of agricul- 
turists, 108; salaries of others, 

104, 107, 172; time in school, 94 
Teachers Seminary, 6 

Technical schools, see Agricultural 
schools 

Tennessee, 22, 86, 156-157; Univer- 
sity of, 7, 155, 159 

Texas, 7, 10, 21, 118, 188 

Text-books, 99-101, 118, 169, 172, 184 

Thompson's Island, 6 

Thorndike, E. L., 13, 146 

Time : given to instruction, 85-88 ; in 
the course, 88-89; problem of, 
169-170, 183 

Tonkowa, Okla, 86 

Township: district, 14, 22, 26-27, 3i. 
34, 36-37 ; high school, 144, 186 

Training schools, loo-ioi, iir, 147, 
169, i8s 

Traveling schools, 10 

Tuskegee, 11 

Tyner, Tenn., 86 

University, attitude of, 151-160, 182 
University of Chicago, 153, 159 
United States Department of Agri- 
culture, 3, 9, 10 
United States Geological Survey, 181 
Utah, 7, 144 

Van Amringe, quoted, 5 
Vermont, 7, 20, 188 



Index 



205 



Virginia, 7, 17, 21, 25, 31, 83, 125, 
143, 151, 188; University of, 114, 
155 

Washington, 7 

Washington, Booker T., 11 

Waterford, Pa., 19, 60, 75-83, 86 

Wausau, Wis., 122, 144 

Wayne township high school, see 

Lee's Creek 
Wells, Minn., 17 
Westfield, Mass., Academy, 6 



West Milton, 47-48 

West Virginia, 7, 10 

Winneconne, Wis., 122 

Wisconsin, 10, 17, 22, 25; county ag- 
ricultural schools, 118, 122, 125, 
139-140, 142, 144, 147, 151; Uni- 
versity of, 7, ii2ff., 154 

Woodbine, N. J., 11 

Wyoming, 7 

Yale, 6 

Yalobusha County high school, 19 



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